Between Sun and Moon
by Kaara
Summary: Discontinued. Ino... in Team Seven. With two chronic cases of lonely orphans. A photogenic love triangle. Set after the Genin Exam. NaruIno, onesided SasuIno.
1. Virago

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine /again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

This fic has nothing to do with '**Fighting All Odds**'. FAO /is/ my pet project but I need a break from all the angsting and revenging melodramatic crap before I claw the life out of my muses. 'Sides, I've been dying to morph this idea into actual words. There will be no /major/ OC, no /kick-ass/ hidden village, no /serious/ bashing and Naruto is /not/ a depressed, homicidal/suicidal super genin with uber mysterious bloodline limit.

Timeline is after Naruto kicks Mizuki's pathetic ass and graduates. This is an AU.

Randomness /will/ pop up once in a while. You have been warned.

xxx

**Chapter One: Virago.**

xxx

Ino stared at the mirror. Long and hard.

"Is that a… zit?"

Her neatly plucked eyebrows collided into a full-fledged frown at her outspoken thought, the tip of her finger gingerly scraping over a tiny mound that would have otherwise been invisible if Ino hadn't been squinting at her reflection for an entire hour. She gave the mound an irritated scratch, before exhaling loudly and picked up a hairbrush from her cluttered make-up kit. Sifting through her half dried sheen of pale golden hair, Ino started complaining at her reflection. Which could do nothing but to listen diligently like any good reflection should.

"It must be that awful lotion Mum bought," brush, brush, brush. "Or maybe it's not a zit. Maybe it's… an /allergy," brush, tug, brush. "Oh bother! What did I do to deserve a /gigantic/ boil on my first day as a /genin!" tug, brush, brush. "And to think I've spent all my allowance just so I can look nice today. This is /so/ not fair!"

The blonde's voice was slightly muffled when she clamped her teeth on the handle of her hairbrush, fingers expertly trying back her hair into its customary ponytail. She rummaged among scattered glittering scabbards and odd pieces of jewelleries for hair clips, finding three that were quite plain and didn't have any exaggerated flower patterns or multi-coloured studs on them. Slipping those into their rightful places, Ino spewed out her hairbrush and proceeded on trimming her ponytail in silent. The lines of frown on her face had disappeared by the time she traded her fluffy milky white bathrobe for her unofficial sleeveless purple uniform, humming away to a vague childhood tune.

A sharp knock on her door almost made Ino jump in surprise, pausing from her current task of wrapping her middle section with a roll of gauze. "Ino?" That was her mother. "You're going to be late if you don't hurry. Your father wants to have a word with you before you go."

"I'll be down in a minute, Mum!"

She snipped the end of the gauze in a flash, hastily tucking the roll away in a small bag and cast a sweeping glance around her room to make sure that everything was in place. Ino adjusted the end of her pale blue comforter, running a hand over the soft mattress underneath it to smooth some unwanted creases that offended her neat eyes. Satisfied, the blonde jogged out of the room, the linoleum floor a cool welcome to her bare feet. Ino trudged downstairs with the enthusiasm of a five year old kid, self-consciously tugging at her clothes. Her father was already there, flipping through the Konoha Daily and only looked up when Ino took a seat across him.

"You're going to have a new team today, right?" the jounin asked, smiling at his only daughter.

Ino dumped a pancake on her plate and poured a substantial amount of maple syrup onto it, grinning at her father. "Uh huh. I can't wait to know who's going to be in my group. I bet we're going to be the best new team this year."

Her mother tipped some sausages into Ino's plate and said, "I just hope you'll be careful, Ino. Heaven's know why you wanted to be a ninja, such a dangerous job. I always thought you like handling flowers."

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Mum," the blonde pursed her lips, chewing on her sweetened sausage. "Dad's a ninja, and he's cool!"

"That's my princess," father and daughter chuckled when the mother heaved an exasperated sigh, muttering something under her breath as she turned to the lump of sizzling scrambled eggs in the frying pan.

"Say, can I have my allowance early this month, Dad?" Ino asked through a mouthful of pancake, busily cutting said pancake into smaller pieces. "I want to buy that new set of kunai they have in Harumi's."

The jounin took a sip on his cup of coffee thoughtfully. "What happened to your last allowance?"

"I had to buy extra rolls of gauze, because Mum keeps complaining that she didn't have enough to bandage /you/ up after your missions," she pouted in mock anger at her father, who laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Then, my wardrobe needed some new clothes and I found out that they were having a sale yesterday. Mum always said that even ninjas need to look good."

"Alright, alright. I'll give it to you after you come back from your first team meeting, okay?"

Ino swallowed the last of her breakfast and flashed him a wide grin. She spared a glance at an antique grandfather clock in one corner of the kitchen and choked when she saw the time. Washing down all the food with a glass of milk, Ino sprang to her feet and capered to hug her mother and gave her father's cheek a peck. Scrambling into her ninja sandal, Ino glanced over her shoulder. "I'm going to make you proud, Mum, Dad! See you later!"

Yamanaka Saeki smiled fondly at her daughter's disappearing figure, a pot of coffee in one hand while another held a plate of scrambled eggs. She looked at her husband and remarked in a warm, soft voice, "I think you're right to agree when she told you that she wanted to be a ninja. It's a shame to have all that energy wasted in doing flower arrangements."

"Ino has the potential," Inoshi folded his newspaper and leaned back into his chair, a small smile playing on his lips. In a teasing, smug tone, he said, "She's my daughter after all. It's in her genes."

"Of course, dear. Keep telling yourself that, maybe it'll come true."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

xxx

The room was packed with other new genins when Ino sauntered in, searching for familiar faces that didn't annoy her on daily basis. She caught sight of Ami, the snotty bitch-slash-her archenemy surrounded by a group of twittering admirers, smirking when she saw the girl paled as their eyes made contact. Ami hurriedly looked away, stuttering something to her groupies. Ino shook her head in amusement and made her way towards Shikamaru, before something, or rather /someone/ made her stop on track. A mischievous grin made its way onto her face as she eyed Sakura and Sasuke, the latter engaged in a one-way conversation with the former.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Latching herself onto the Uchiha, Ino stuck out her tongue at Sakura, who was gaping angrily at them. It was her favourite game; pissing Sakura off. She wasn't really interested in the sallow-faced Sasuke, preferring her boyfriend to be more talkative and cheerful than Sasuke's patented grunts and air of theatrical angst. The boy was too dramatic for her own liking, anyway. The only reason why she pretended to fawn over Sasuke was Sakura. That pink-haired, forehead girl that had no whatsoever confidence in anything that didn't involve tons of books and loads of memorising. Ino wanted to help, in her twisted kind of way.

"Get away from Sasuke-kun, Ino-pig!"

"Make me, forehead girl!"

Sasuke grunted and disentangled himself easily from Ino's hands, choosing a seat some feet away from the two females. He proceeded to fall into the part brooding, part thinking look that he had perfected over the years. Girls giggled and squealed, guys had to restrain themselves from gagging. Ino raised an eyebrow when a blond she vaguely remembered from the Academy started harassing Sasuke, crouching close to the Uchiha. Too close in fact. So close that when an anonymous boy accidentally knocked him with an elbow, the blond stumbled forward and /kissed/ Sasuke.

Ino thought she would've died that day when her oxygen supply was cut short from excessive laughter.

When she finally managed to wipe the tears away from her eyes, the blond was on the floor, supporting several large bumps and a facial makeover courtesy of Sakura, who had a maniacal glint gleaming dangerously in her eyes. Sasuke looked traumatised, his usually expressionless face twisted into something akin to a mix aghast, confusion and mortification. For the second time that morning alone, Ino gasped for breath in between mad bouts of laughter. She was saved from death by asphyxiation when Iruka-sensei walked in and commanded immediate attention. Shoulders shaking slightly in her attempt to /not/ laugh, Ino prodded the blond with a foot.

"Wake up, you idiot," she hissed as the boy stirred. "Iruka-sensei's here."

One eye blinked open, followed by a groan. "I'm still alive…?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Ino held out a hand and helped the boy to a seat besides hers, taking in the blue eyes and prominent whisker marks. "You're Uzumaki, right?"

"Yeah," he trailed on, wincing when he fingered his bumps. "Sheesh, Sakura-chan gets more and more violent these days. Ouch!"

"You really are an idiot," she ignored his glare and tossed a handkerchief at the blond, who quirked an eyebrow in response. "Clean those cuts, whisker-face. You might get an infection."

"…Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Iruka-sensei shuffled the papers in his hands importantly, before smiling at the expectant faces of the genins. "Now, Team Seven is… Uchiha Sasuke."

The boy grunted indifferently.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The blond besides Ino groaned in misery.

"And… Yamanaka Ino."

The girl blinked in surprise. That was an unexpected turn of event. Earlier, she thought she would've been assigned to a team that consisted of an Akimichi and a Nara. Her father often told her stories about his efficient team works with his fellow jounins, especially Akimichi and Nara. He also told her that his partners have sons going to the Academy as well, about her age and it would be a blast if she could continue the tradition of the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi Combo. She had nothing against the idea, though Shikamaru grated her nerves with his unmatched lazy-assedness and Chouji with foods was just plain disgusting.

Before Ino could say anything, Iruka had paved on ahead with the list. "Team Eight will be Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata. Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Haruno Sakura are Team Ten. Your assigned teacher will come shortly after this and I hope you will all grown up to become the proud shinobi of Konoha. Those who don't are going to hear from me."

Cheerful laughter greeted the half-hearted joke. Iruka-sensei bowed and made his way out of the room, leaving the newly promoted genins to chatter happily with their new teammates while waiting for their teachers. Ino was staring ahead at the blank wall, still surprised by the arrangements and thinking how her father would react to it. How disappointed her father would be. Maybe she could meet Iruka-sensei afterwards and demand a change of teammates. Ino distantly felt a hand descended onto her shoulder, snapping out of her musing only when someone began shaking her to and fro. Slapping the offending hand away, Ino glared at its owner. It was the blond.

"What?" she asked, irritated.

The boy grinned, a wide, foxy grin that made his eyes twinkle impishly. "You're Yamanaka Ino, right? We're going to be in a same team."

Ino sighed heavily. "I happen to realize that, Uzumaki."

"Call me Naruto. It's weird having your team mate calling you by your last name everytime."

"Then you can call me Ino," she said, smiling a bit despite herself. She looked around, before turning to Naruto, "Where's our last teammate?"

"Sasuke-bastard? Um… he's /somewhere," was the vague reply she got from the blond genin. "Probably hiding from his fan club. Again."

"Poor boy," snickered Ino, toying absently with her ponytail. "This is boring. I wonder when our sensei will come."

Naruto cracked his knuckles and exclaimed confidently, "He's probably on his way right now!"

xxx Three Hours and a Peeved Blond Later xxx

"Where the hell is that goddamn sensei!"

Yawning, Ino allowed her head to rest on the table, eyes scanning the room without much gusto. It was empty, save for Naruto (who was hyperventilating in front of her), Sasuke (who was brooding at the other end of the class) and herself. No whatsoever sign of any sensei. All the other teams had long departed with their respected teachers, who unlike theirs, arrived in time. She had shrugged in pity at Sakura, who had stomped sulkily behind her teammates in a tow. The pink-haired girl shot Sasuke one last longing look before disappearing down the hallway, the same direction Ino wished she had gone three hours ago.

Noticing that Naruto was fiddling with a blackboard duster, Ino lifted her head and asked, "What are you doing?"

"It's a punishment for our unpunctual sensei," the boy replied cheekily, giggling as he set the duster on top of the sliding door. Jumping down from the stool, Naruto clapped his dusty palms together and grinned. "Now we just have to wait for that late dumbass."

"A jounin won't fall for such kindergarten trick," Sasuke commented, the most they had heard from him all morning.

Naruto and Ino adroitly ignored him.

As if on cue, the door opened just as Sasuke finished talking to reveal a mass of bushy silver hair. Which was promptly covered in a cloud of chalky dust when Naruto's plan (surprisingly) worked. A tall and lanky man in typical jounin attire walked into the room, shaking his head free from the white dust with a hand while another firmly held on a book. Ino had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop herself from bursting into another fit of laughter, while Sasuke was eyeing the jounin suspiciously. Naruto was jumping and pointing at the jounin like a drugged monkey.

The silver/white-haired man rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"My first impression on you… is not good."

Awkward silence ensued.

Ten minutes later, they were already seated outside, Naruto sitting between Ino and Sasuke with their 'Kakashi-sensei' propping his chin up with a hand in front of them. His one visible eye was regarding his new charges lazily, one of his hands rested across his knees. Ino thought that if it weren't for the jounin vest, the man would've looked more like some drunken sleazebag that she often ran across in front of bars. From their introduction earlier, he only revealed his name and a load of other unimportant crap. Naruto had an insane ambition to become the next Hokage. Ino also found out that Sasuke had homicidal urges.

Boys…

"Now that we've known one another—"

"We only know your /name," Ino pointedly interjected, arms crossed against her chest.

Kakashi ignored her and continued on. "Next meeting is tomorrow, at the clearing by the bridge. I want you to be there by eight, and don't eat any breakfast. I don't want anyone throwing up on me. Got that?"

"Why would we throw up?" questioned Sasuke in his usual silent way. After his rather chilling revelation that his dream in life was to kill a certain someone, Ino had scooted to a safe distance away from the Uchiha, suddenly wary of her safety around the boy.

"Now, that's my secret, isn't it?" their silver-haired sensei cheerfully retorted, standing up and dusted the back of his pants nonchalantly. "See you tomorrow, kids."

And with that last bid, the jounin disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"… I think Kakashi-sensei is a serious weirdo," Naruto muttered matter-of-factly under his breath. He jumped up and said/yelled, "Who's up for some ramen?"

Sasuke abandoned his seat and started to stalk away. "I have better things to do than hanging out with dead lasts."

"Why you—!"

"I'll go with you," Ino piped up, trying to nip the argument short. She did a short stretch to loosen her stiff muscle and smiled at Naruto. "All that waiting makes me hungry."

Anger forgotten, the blond boy eagerly agreed. They walked side by side to Ichiraku, chatting quite contentedly about the weather, jutsus, Iruka-sensei, everything. By the time they arrived at the ramen stand, Ino had learnt that Naruto was an orphan, living alone inside a small apartment somewhere in the heart of the village. He told her that he didn't have many friends while he was in the Academy. It puzzled Ino, as she remembered her mother warning her about Uzumaki Naruto when she was younger. She didn't have the chance to meet him before, studying in separate classes but as they laughed at some odd jokes Naruto picked up from Iruka-sensei, Ino couldn't understand why her mother would warn her about someone as cheery as Naruto.

Naruto didn't look dangerous at all.

The welcoming warmth of Ichiraku Ramen made Ino's stomach grumble, nodding at the owner as she parted the curtain. The stand was deserted by the time they claimed two stools, sitting cosily together.

"What will you two have?" the owner asked, his voice thick and friendly.

"I want beef and shrimp ramen!" Naruto.

"I'll take vegetarian ramen, thank you." Ino.

"Vegetarian? What's the point of eating ramen if you want veggies!"

"The point is that it's healthy, whisker-face!"

"Stop calling me 'whisker-face'!"

"Then stop criticising my eating preference!"

"Order up."

Still glaring at one another, Ino and Naruto swiftly snatched one bowl each, jabbing at the innocent noodles vindictively with their chopsticks whilst their eyes were locked in a glaring match. When both finally turned their attention back to their bowls of ramen, they immediately realized their blunder. Ino ended up with the beef and shrimp ramen, while Naruto had her vegetarian one. Cheeks colouring slightly at the mistake, Ino looked up from the bowl and offered an apologizing grin to the blond boy besides her. Naruto shrugged nonchalantly and they traded bowls in silent, though Ino noticed that the boy's cheeks had adopted pretty tints of bright cherry.

"… Sorry I yelled at you," the boy softly mumbled, spewing some bits of chewed noodle onto the counter as he did so.

Ino grinned widely. "Nah, s'my fault too. My dad always said that I have quick temper." She glanced at the darkening sky outside, frowning when she spotted dark rain clouds parading over Konoha. Rumbles of young thunder echoed in a distance. "Shit, I think it's gonna rain. Mum is /so/ going to nag me to death if I got home late. You don't mind me slipping back first, right?"

"I don't," then, Naruto added in a more morose tone, "Nobody's waiting me back home anyway."

"You go, Mr. Sunshine," the girl teased, quickly deciding that sadness didn't suit Naruto at all. She ruffled his hair (much to the boy's annoyance) and slurped down some hot broth from her ramen. Dumping some money on the counter to cover her order, Ino said, "I'll see you tomorrow then, 'kay?"

"Bye, Ino-chan!"

Ino paused at her new title, arching an eyebrow at Naruto. The blond waved his chopsticks before turning back to his bowl, shovelling the food down his throat in an inhuman pace. Shaking her head, Ino jogged towards her home, the jogs quickly replaced by a sprint when she felt drops of water crashing against her skin. She shielded her face with a hand, wiping her face in intervals as the increasingly thick curtain of falling raindrops restricted her vision. The street ahead was reduced to mere blurs, dim spheres of light from random lampposts were the only indication that she was going the right way. Ino grimaced when she nearly slipped on a puddle of mud, trying to stay on the paved road.

Before she could take another step, a hand latched itself onto her wrist.

"What the— Hey, let me go!" Ino instantly regretted yelling when filthy rainwater rushed into her lungs from her opened mouth, causing the girl to cough and spluttered painfully, her chest heaving from the sheer effort to keep breathing.

The hand yanked Ino away from the road underneath her feet, dragging her towards an unknown direction. Ino struggled against the firm grip, succeeding only in making its owner tighten the cold fingers over her flesh. Fear manifested itself inside the girl's mind, squeezing her heart with undiluted panic. What if it was a murderer? What if it was a /rapist! The rain made Ino unable to discern her 'captor', except that whoever he/she was, the person was doing a /fabulous/ job in killing her blood circulation. Through the slits of her eyes, Ino could make out a glowing /something/ a few feet away from her, hoping against hope that nothing bad was going to happen.

Suddenly, Ino couldn't feel the harsh rain beating down on her face anymore.

"Open your eyes."

The curt voice was strangely familiar and despite her fear, Ino slowly fluttered her eyes open, wincing as a shower of bright light assaulted her irises. After her eyes had adjusted themselves to the brightness, Ino found herself blinking into the face of none other than Uchiha Sasuke. The blonde girl immediately tensed, her sore throat burning from shock as Sasuke's dark orbs pierced through her mental defence. She took a step back; a glance at her surrounding revealed that she was standing in someone's porch, the light pouring out from an opened door. Sasuke was wearing a coat over his dark blue yukata, a pink umbrella clutched possessively in one hand.

Ino's first instinct was to snerk at the umbrella. "/Pink, Sasuke?"

"… Shut up."

Ino's second instinct was to yell at the dark-haired boy. "What the hell do you think you're doing! I was on my way home!"

"You're heading towards a ditch," Sasuke informed the blonde, his brows knitted into a dark brown. He slipped out of his drenched sandals and took a step through the door, placing the pink umbrella into a bamboo stand. Leaning against the doorway, the Uchiha said, "Kakashi-sensei wanted to meet the /three/ of us, he'll be pissed to find your body inside that ditch tomorrow."

"…Wow. That' like, the first time I heard you complete a whole sentence. I'm impressed," Ino said, deadpan. Remembering her manner, she flashed Sasuke a sweet smile. "Thanks for saving my life."

"Hn."

They ended up staring at one another for several uncomfortable minutes.

"Um, do you have a phone?" Ino asked, shivering from a sudden gust of wind and wished she hadn't left Ichiraku. At least she won't be trembling like a drowned street rat there. "I need to call my parents. They're going to get worried if I don't."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, a sudden unidentified gleam flashing through those dark irises of his. Ino kicked herself mentally, thinking that the Uchiha was offended when she mentioned 'parents', like Naruto had earlier. The girl chewed on her bottom lip crossly as she came to the sudden realization that she was saddled with two chronic cases of lonely /stubborn/ orphans. Iruka-sensei is /so/ going to pay for this… Shifting her weight to one leg, Ino waited for Sasuke's answer, praying that it didn't involve bodily throwing her out of his porch into the heavy rain or anything equally atrocious. To her surprise, the dark-haired boy beckoned her to come inside.

Now, knowing Sasuke's reputation as the heartless walking block of ice that was averse to any kind of vocal and physical contact, coupled with the fact that that said block of ice had revealed that his goal in life was to murder someone just hours ago, it was fully understandable for Ino to hesitate at the invitation. She looked around for any possible /dry/ escapes and upon finding none; the blonde exhaled in resignation and started taking off her own soaked sandals. She ran a hand through her straggly hair in an attempt to appear somewhat presentable before taking a step into the Uchiha resident.

Contrary to popular belief, Sasuke /did not/ live in a thousand year old manor with creepy butler and painting with moving eyes, or an elegant traditional Japanese dojo that covered a vast acres of land. The boy's house was a simple double-storey bungalow, sparsely but stylishly furnished. There was a big fire cackling merrily in the grate and several armchairs placed strategically around the fire. On one end table was a leather-bound book, a bookmark sticking out from its many yellow pages. Ino followed Sasuke into a dimly lit hallway, wrapping her arms tighter around her quivering body with every step that she took. They eventually stopped inside a clean space that resembled a kitchen.

"Here," Sasuke shoved a cordless phone into her hands, moving to a set of high cabinets and began searching for something.

Punching her number in an instant, Ino only had to wait until the second dial when her mother's voice greeted her eardrum. "It's me, Mum. I'm okay… I know I should've called earlier… No, really, I'm okay. I'm at a… /friend's/ house. No, I'm not at Sayu's. Don't worry, I'll get back as soon as the rain stops. Uh huh… tell Dad I'm sorry, okay? Love you too. Bye."

Something fluffy smacked her right into the face, Ino's nose picking up the lingering scent of a fabric softener that she often used. She raised a hand to clutch at the object, which turned out to a small pink towel and the culprit was standing with his back against the refrigerator. Placing the phone onto the tiled counter, Ino grinned in gratitude at Sasuke and wasted no time to rub her hair dry. It crossed Ino's mind that Sasuke was not really the kind of person whom anyone would call 'charitable', let alone showing general hospitality to other people. Her vigorous rubbing eventually halted to a stop and Ino stared at the dark-haired boy with curiosity.

"Why are you being nice to me?" the blonde bluntly questioned, raking her fingers through her hair thoughtfully.

Sasuke snorted. "I told you about that ditch already."

"You're doing /that/ again…"

"Do /what/ again?"

Ino grinned. "Speaking in complete sentence. You should make it a habit, you know. It's /very/ appealing."

"Hn."

"Someone should crown you Mr. Conversation of the Year."

"Hn."

"I've been meaning to ask," Ino held up the pink towel with a smirk. "What is it with you and pink colour? You happen to own a lot of them. The umbrella, this…"

"… They were on sale."

A muffled snicker came from the general direction of Ino. "I never knew you could be so /domestically/ efficient."

"One more word and I'll throw you out."

"Fine, stop being so sensitive, will you?"

Her smirk came anew when she saw Sasuke flinched at her words. Sure, the boy saved her from committing unintentional suicide but even /that/ couldn't stop Ino from picking on him. She wrapped the slightly damp towel around her neck, looking out a window and into the hazy landscape beyond the glass confinement. Besides the fact that her /new/ outfit was sopping wet and she had created puddles of water across Sasuke's home, Ino had nothing to complain about. She even thought of asking Sasuke for a cup of hot chocolate or something warm but figured that even the Uchiha had his limits. Therefore, Ino settled on staring at the window for the rain to recede.

Ino grinned when a thought crosses her mind.

The things Sakura would do to be in her place right now…

Her patience was rewarded ten minutes later when the heavy downpour slowly reduced to soft drizzle, splashes of rainwater against the glass pane not as intense as before. Ino abandoned her place by the counter and sauntered over to the window, pressing her face to the smooth surface to check the visibility of things outside. Convinced that she could see the ditch by now, Ino untangled the towel from her neck and walked towards Sasuke.

"I think it's okay outside," she tossed said towel to the boy and smiled. "Thanks for the shelter, Sasuke. I'll find some way to pay you back later."

The Uchiha shook his head. "I don't mind."

Ino was almost sure that there were aquatic microorganisms waddling inside her sandals when she put them on; the sandals making weird squelchy noises everytime she started walking. Shaking excess water out of one sandal, Ino grimaced and turned to Sasuke. "See you t'morrow."

"Hn."

"Yeah, nice talking to you too."

The raindrops were more bearable this time and it didn't take Ino long to arrive in front of the Yamanaka Flower Shop, without falling into any ditch. She ducked into the shop after unlocking its side door, carefully zigzagging among multi-coloured flowers to a back door that adjoined the shop to her home. Tipping her sandals against the wall to allow them to dry, Ino squeezed a fair amount of water from her ruined clothes before slowly pushing the door open. It led to the kitchen, which was empty. The blonde was not fazed, seeing that her father must be at work, doing missions or whatnots for the Hokage. And her mother usually spent her free time knitting inside the living room if she wasn't fussing over some new flower arrangements.

"I'm home," Ino quietly muttered, trudging straight towards her room on the first floor. She couldn't wait to get out of her purple uniform; it was getting too sticky and itchy for comfort.

Upon arriving inside her little haven, she quickly undressed, dumping her wet clothes into the laundry basket and wrapped a bathrobe around her shivering form. Making sure that her windows were securely latched, Ino stalked to her closet, picking out a set of pyjama and placed it onto her bed. She stepped into the shower, adjusting the temperature of her water heater before shrugging off the bathrobe and hung it on a peg. Warm drops of water chased the shivers and coldness away once she turned the knob, cascading down her naked curves like miniscule waterfalls. She enjoyed the welcoming sensation for a while, reaching out to grab her bottle of shampoo. Pleasant fruity scent filled the small space as Ino massaged her head through the thick white lather.

The blonde leisurely took her time, scrubbing her skin free from crusty mud and slimy grime. There was even an unidentified greenish brown /thing/ that took ten whole minutes until it surrendered to Ino's vicious scrubs, leaving an angry red mark just below her left collarbone. Finally turning the shower off, Ino groped blindly for a towel and stumbled into the main vicinity of her room. She heard the front door slammed shut as she buttoned the last of her pyjama top, her lips stretching into a wide smile when Ino recognized the pattern of footsteps echoing throughout the house. It was the sort of uneven, tired pitter-patter that could only belong to her father. She dried her hair as fast as possible, tucking some hair behind her ears and bounded downstairs.

"Hey there, princess," Inoshi raised a hand to greet his daughter, slouching in front of the dining table tiredly. His other hand was nursing a mug of hot coffee. A delicate chink of china against wood resounded faintly when Saeki placed a bowl of chicken soup before the jounin. "How's your first day?"

Ino claimed the chair to her father's right and smiled at him. "It's great. Until it started to rain."

"My poor princess," the jounin laughed when Ino pouted. "Tell me about your team. How are Shikamaru and Chouji?"

"That's the thing I wanna tell you, Dad," helping herself to Inoshi's untouched bowl, Ino swallowed a mouthful of the delicious soup and said, "I'm not in the same team with Shika and Chouji. And we got this weird sensei, Hatake Kakashi. He came in late and we gotta meet him tomorrow for something."

Her father frowned slightly at the information. "Kakashi, huh? That's interesting. And who are your other teammates, Ino?"

"Uchiha Sasuke," she swallowed another mouthful. "And Uzumaki Naruto."

A loud 'Clang!' made Ino jump, almost upsetting the table when she spun to face her mother. There was a large pot rolling on its round bottom by Saeki's feet, but what surprised Ino was the expression on the woman's face. It was a livid combination of fear and anger. Inoshi was on his feet in a second, holding his wife's shoulder and whispered something to Saeki. Her knuckles were turning white from the tight grip she had on a ladle, her lovely ocean blue eyes glazing over with an unfathomable look. Ino stared at her mother, and then at her father, before turning back to Saeki. Before she could say a word, Inoshi pinned her on the spot with a warning glare.

"Ino, please go back to your room," the black-haired jounin's voice was laced with atypical authorisation. "Now."

The blonde girl stood her ground stubbornly, something she had inherited from her father. "But—"

"/Now/."

The order was said with such firm tone that it left no room for objection. Ino hesitated at first, but wisely succumbed to her father's glare and left the kitchen, walking as slowly as humanly possible. She was almost all the way up to the first floor when she heard her mother's voice, barely above whisper at first, but was rapidly rising into a crescendo. Pausing, Conscience fought a gruesome battle with Curiosity, to which Conscience was mercilessly beheaded by the latter. Ino stealthily sneaked a few steps down, convinced that the shadows could hide her from Inoshi's trained eyes. Her parents were sitting by the table, Saeki's hands clasped tightly in Inoshi's larger ones. The woman seemed to be at the verge of tears.

"We… Iruka-sensei… change teammates," the words that flowed from Saeki was punctuated with a growl, her strained voice barely audible. Ino shifted slightly to gain a better angle. "Can't believe… my Ino… that /demon/… same team."

Demon? Ino scowled, perking her ears to catch the words. What demon? She couldn't understand what her mother was talking about. It seemed as though Saeki was convinced that there was a demon in the same team as the blonde girl. But that was ridiculous; Ino couldn't actually imagine Naruto /or/ Sasuke being demons. Not the cheerful whisker face. And certainly not that brooding dark-haired boy that had rescued her from death-by-ditch. It Sasuke /was/ a demon, then she certainly wouldn't be home, right? It was too farfetched. More confused that she had ever been, Ino continued on eavesdropping.

It was her father's words that caught Ino's attention. "He's not… demon. The Fourth's sacrificed… vessel… small boy. To judge him… unfair. Should… believe in the Third."

The voices were muffled after that and Ino couldn't make out anything other than she had heard. Risking a peek into the kitchen, Ino saw her father wrapping his arms around the sobbing woman in a soothing hug. Weariness was reflected clearly on Inoshi's feature, like he had grown old just in a matter of minutes while they were having their conversation. Carefully treading up towards her room, the scowl on Ino's face was replaced by a worried frown. What could possibly make her usually composed mother freaked out like that? And what was that about a demon, the Fourth and sacrifice? The blonde girl silently flicked off the light in her room, though she remained wide awake under the safety of her blanket.

What demon?

Imaginary enigmatic patterns flashing across the ceiling finally lulled Ino into a deep, dreamless sleep.

TBC 

I demand reviews.

**Kaara.**


	2. Camaraderie

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine /again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

Second chapter up. This will be Ino-centric for the time being, with random little scenarios from other POVs when I feels like it. And I just find out that people actually /dislike/ FAO (is amused). Thank you for all the reviews and it is kinda /pleasing/ to see some familiar name. is being a pain in the ass again. Messing up the formatting…

xxx

**Chapter Two: Camaraderie.**

xxx

Must. Kill. Kakashi-sensei.

Confiscate that dirty book of his…

And /then/ shoved those bells down his throat.

The thought had occupied a major portion of Ino's mind as she scratched the back of her neck, scowling darkly at a small insect that were currently buzzing and annoying the hell out of her. She tried to swat the pest away, failed at that but succeeded in making the leaves that were covering her bristle /loudly/ from her wild movement. Slinking back under the shadow, Ino scanned the clearing warily for any sign of silver hair or faint chime of tiny bells. Noting that her purple clothes were not exactly a perfect blend with her green camouflage, the blonde girl exhaled in frustration.

Stupid bushes. Stupid test. Stupid Kakashi-sensei.

Her stomach rumbled in protest.

Stupid /hunger/.

Shifting her elbows to a more comfortable angle, Ino concentrated on the task at hand, trying not to think /much/ of amputating/maiming a certain perverted sensei that clearly had a twisted sense of who should and shouldn't be a shinobi. Not only that they had to wait three freaking hour for Kakashi-sensei to finally poof into existence, they had to hear his pathetic excuse of some lost kitten and a sneezing cow. Really. It was bad enough that he would only allow /two/ of them to pass the test; that sadistic jounin also wanted them to fight him for the opportunity. Ino didn't like the direction this test was taking, frankly because she couldn't possibly choose between her two teammates if she was ever given the chance. Sasuke was still hiding somewhere inside the forest, while Naruto… well, that idiot had challenged the jounin head on once he revealed what their test would be.

As expected, Naruto got the crap kicked out of him in no time.

Ino was torn between feeling amused with his stubbornness, or pity the boy for his blatant idiocy after the brief display of adrenaline-driven spar. Somehow, she decided to flatter the boy and settled on the first choice. A sudden explosion jolted her out from her musing, coming from the right end of the clearing. Ino crept out from her hiding place, hesitating for a while, whether or not she should follow the sound. It took the girl another resounding explosion to make up her mind, indignant squawks of birds masking the silent thuds of her sandals (which she was forced to blow-dry earlier that morning) against the hard ground. When Ino arrived at the supposedly source of those explosions, she immediately found out who had been fighting and who had lost.

Sasuke's scowling face, devoid of his lower-than-neck body parts almost made Ino laugh, if it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation and the fact that the person responsible for such action was there. Kakashi-sensei was standing, no… /slouching/ lazily with a hand in his pocket, his invisible nose buried inside his favourite reading material, ignoring Sasuke's hisses of bloody deaths and whatnots. Ino crouched lower under a massive thicket, chewing on her much abused lower lip as she weighed the chance she had against her sensei. Within seconds, she managed to come to a /brilliant/ conclusion.

Nil. Nope. Nuh uh. Not a chance.

If even Sasuke, Uchiha extraordinaire and top rookie of the year couldn't deliver a serious threat to the jounin, what could Ino possibly accomplish if she rush headlong into the battlefield? Ino might not be a genius (/that/ would be Shikamaru), but she was no blockhead. It would only be plain suicide if she tried to take on Kakashi-sensei single-handedly with her level right now. Trusting her judgement, Ino decided to search for Naruto first. Maybe they could work something out against their perverted sensei, quick traps or/and distractions to give either of them the opening to rescue Sasuke.

A furious scream from the far distance stomped her plan to a messy death.

Ino groaned, recognising Naruto's high-pitched voice in an instant.

Kakashi-sensei looked up from his book with an amused twinkle in his eye, before he turned to address the 'beheaded' Uchiha. "Well, seems like there's only one more to go, eh? I wonder where Ino is right now…"

Ino had looked away for a mere second at the distraction, but to her surprise, the silver-haired jounin had disappeared from his place besides Sasuke by the time she turned her eyes back to them. Her breath hitched at once and her eyes widened in apprehension as she wildly looked around for the jounin. Suddenly feeling very much paranoid, Ino tried frantically to search for a new hiding place, just in case Kakashi-sensei had suspected her to be there. Before she could take a step back, she felt someone /tapping/ her rigid shoulder. A part of Ino's logic told her that it couldn't be any of her teammates, seeing that one was stuck (literally) inside the ground, while another must've fallen prey into some kind of a trap Kakashi-sensei had put up. Her reflex, however, prompted the blonde to turn around.

To which she regrettably did.

Stupid /reflex/.

Kakashi-sensei was squatting behind her, holding up a hand in greeting. His eye was curved into a cheery crescent. "Yo."

The blonde girl choked back a shocked yelp, drawing out her kunai and leapt away from her sensei as fast as she could. He straightened up with the patented lazy grace and followed Ino in a much more decent, un-panicky pace. Ino's left eyebrow twitched, though she managed to not stumble on her feet in her haste. Working under pressure was not really her strong point, especially when she didn't have any idea how to confront a /jounin/. In one desperate second, Ino wished that Naruto was there, yelling and /distracting/ Kakashi-sensei from her. She cast a sidelong glance at Sasuke, who was seething silently as a swarm of ants started harassing his vulnerable chin. The Uchiha boy glared at Ino and she glared back, frantically sending him mental shrieks for help. At that moment, Ino learnt something new about Sasuke.

The boy was /not/ physic, no matter what the rumours said.

Grrrreat.

"Now, Ino," Kakashi-sensei drawled out in that annoyingly lethargic voice of his, stopping just some feet away from Ino. "You know what you must do, right?" He gleefully patted the two dangling bells by his waist. "Your other teammates have obviously failed."

Gritting her teeth, Ino tightened her grip on the kunai. "I can't beat you in a one-on-one match, sensei."

Kakashi-sensei chuckled loudly and declared in a half-dramatic tone, "At last! Someone who knows her limit." His chuckles stopped just as abruptly as it had begun, his eye hardened to adopt a near dangerous glint. Ino felt cold shiver racing down the length of her spine. "You do realize that you'll fail if you can't get the bells, don't you?"

The girl swallowed. Hard. "Yes. But Hell might as well starts spewing forth ice cubes if you expect me to surrender without a fight!"

"I think," the jounin rubbed his clothed chin in mock thoughtfulness, prolonging the silence while he watched Ino squirming uneasily on her guard. "That it's time for a… break."

A sudden piercing alarm screech rang throughout the forest, punctuating the jounin's offhand statement.

Ino blinked in confusion. "Wha—"

"Lunch," Kakashi-sensei exclaimed happily, tucking away his dirty book and sauntered towards Sasuke, who was ruthlessly annihilating persistent soldier ants with his ravaged chin. He grinned at the frowning boy. "Having fun down there?"

"Hn."

Pocketing her kunai, Ino couldn't decide if she should feel relieved or piqued at the interruption. Kakashi-sensei had been practically /goading/ her to attack, which she would have done if it weren't for the alarm. Said sensei had seized Sasuke by the scruff of his shirt, pulling the boy effortlessly out from the ground and nonchalantly dumped him besides the Sasuke-sized hole. Crumbs of soil and bits of grass clung stubbornly onto Sasuke's clothes; his white shorts flaked with dirt. He brushed an irate hand over them, tilting his head just so his eyes could met Ino's/daring/ the girl to make some kind of a snide comment over his failure. Shrugging, Ino resisted the overwhelming temptation to do so, just to annoy Sasuke and show the Uchiha that he wasn't as /good/ as everybody thought he was. Instead, she turned on her heels and followed Kakashi-sensei, who had begun to walk away.

Falling in sync with her sensei's idle strides, Ino said, "I would've fought you, you know. Back then." From the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of Sasuke, ten or eleven steps behind them, the frown a permanent feature on his pale face.

An amused eye peered at her, before turning its attention back to the pages from the orange book shoved underneath the covered nose. "I know."

Ino opened her mouth to say something, a sharp retort or a sarcastic snap at the bland reply but found the words loss from the built-in automatic processor inside her brain. Kakashi-sensei was not mocking her; he was, as Ino grudgingly realized/acknowledging/ her. That mere understanding settled snugly inside her stomach, making her senses tingled with an awkward sort of appreciation. Ino closed her mouth noiselessly, almost guiltily and allowed their brief walk to lapse in silence, except for the pleasing crunch, crunch, crunch of leaves underneath the hard soles of their ninja sandals. The warm shower of sunlight was almost completely obscured by the thick canopy of jade leaves, lonely rays impaling themselves onto the uneven floor, clusters of dried leaves and twigs snapping near unison as they made their way to the clearing.

"You dirty cheating perverted sensei! LET ME DOWN!"

They heard Naruto before they could see the blond boy. Ino's eyes widened in astonishment when she saw a dangling Naruto shaking his fists and cussing most /inappropriately/ at Kakashi-sensei. He was suspended in mid air by a sturdy rope around his ankle, steps away from the two bento boxes that Kakashi-sensei had placed on a boulder before they began the test. His face was quite red, no doubt from the blood that must have rushed towards his head from Kami-know-how-long he had been hanging like that. Kakashi snapped his book shut, a look of wicked glee in his eye as he sauntered towards Naruto, apparently turning a deaf ear at insults echoing around them. Ino winced when the jounin swiftly cut the rope with a kunai, resulting in Naruto having his head cracked against one of the many protruding tree roots. She vaguely heard Sasuke grunted in a distance.

"OWW!"

"Serves you right," Kakashi crossed his arms against his vest, one visible eye pinning Naruto with an intense glare. "And who's the one cheating, huh?" He waved airily at the bento boxes, which were also glaring at the sheepish boy. Pushing aside the fact that bento boxes /did not/ have eyes to manage such impressing feat.

Ino tilted her head to a side as Kakashi-sensei dragged Naruto to a pole, erect in front of the boulder for a reason that was yet to be revealed. She didn't have to wait long. The jounin conjured a rope out of thin air and proceeded on to bound Naruto to the pole, with much resisting and struggling from the boy's part. Ino couldn't really blame Naruto for being uncooperative; Kakashi-sensei had made sure that the rope was tightened just below suffocating point. Done with that, the sensei gave the still struggling Naruto a good kick on the shin and gestured for Ino and Sasuke to come closer. Both complied without a word, though Ino spared Naruto a half sympathy, half teasing glance in her way towards Kakashi-sensei. Grumbling, the boy ignored her and made an attempt to gnaw through the rope.

"Because Naruto tried to cheat," here, Kakashi-sensei paused and bopped said boy's head. "You two are forbidden to share your food with the brat. I'll give you thirty minutes to get some rest because I have something to take care of in the Academy and remember, I'm going to /fail/ you if you offer even one grain of rice to Naruto. Got that?"

Ino mutely nodded, while Sasuke grunted to indicate that he was listening. Naruto was yelling something in the line of he'd kick a certain jounin sensei's perverted ass even if he were food-deprived for a whole month.

"Good," the jounin's eye curled downwards again as he shoved the two boxes to his rope-free charges. "Ja." And disappeared into another cloud of smoke.

Lips twitching, Ino settled with her back to the boulder, taking the lid off her bento box. The Uchiha boy chose a spot not far from Ino, quickly digging into the treat like he had skipped breakfast. Oh yeah, they /did/. She picked up the chopsticks provided and prodded at a heap of tiny shrimps over pickled seaweeds, limp bodies of the dead sea critters non responsive to her uncertain pokes. Besides the heap was two slices of half-cooked fish, from an unidentified species with one side charred beyond recognition. The clump of rice was already soggy and mushy, sprinkled with ill-sliced carrots, ginger, turnip and green sprigs. Ino grimaced as the fish crumbled under the light pressure when she attempted to pick it up. Inhaling deeply, she decided to try her luck with the shrimps instead. Chewing on the rubbery substance, Ino felt a deep longing to run back home to her mother and expressed her gratitude over Saeki's delightful cooking.

Thinking about her mother brought a confused frown onto Ino's feature, her jaw working in a much slower, thoughtful rate. When she woke up that morning, a heavy feeling of guilt swarmed her chest for her little /disobedience/ act the night before, and also because of the sad, almost hysteric spasm of fear she had witnessed on her mother's face. She almost regretted ever /witnessing/ that one emotional slip from Saeki. But then, before she could dwell further on the thought, plain ol' curiosity kicked in; 'Why?' The one thing firmly etched onto her memory, the one thing that made her morning shower less relaxing than usual was the repeated mentioning of a /demon/. One of her /teammates/ was a /demon/. Or so her mother seemed to believe. But her father didn't look like he shared the same belief. She only found Inoshi inside the kitchen when she had ambled downstairs, declining breakfast because Kakashi-sensei had told her to (that cunning bastard!) and asked for Saeki.

Inoshi took an extra minute sipping /pondering/ over his coffee before telling Ino that her mother was still in bed, complaining of a migraine attack and unable to see her off. Perhaps Inoshi saw the worries reflected inside Ino's blue eyes, or perhaps he just felt like being all cuddly that morning; the jounin gave her daughter a tight, soothing hug, the one Ino remembered he gave Saeki the night before. She leaned in like a leach, sucking the warmth greedily though her mind was a haze of curiosity, confusion, curiosity, worries, curiosity… Breaking the hug, Inoshi patted her back and joked that she must've gained some weigh; he could barely circle his arms around her anymore like he used to. Mortified, Ino had pouted at her father and 'accidentally' stomped down on his bare toe in her way out. Waving at a cursing and hopping Inoshi, the blonde girl had thus forgot the nagging curiosity burning at the back of her brain. Until just now.

One of her /teammates/ could be a /demon/…

If her mother's outburst held any truth, then… who?

Ino had been chewing on the same mouthful of rubbery shrimps and soggy rice for a good two minutes by then, though she was too preoccupied with her disturbing thoughts to notice. Jaw mechanically moving up and down with its own accord, Ino eyed the two boys intently. Sasuke was hauling (he managed to even look /cool/ doing /that/-- must be practiced) rice and other things inside his mouth, slim eyebrows skewed into a frown that would've sooner or later caused permanent wrinkles on his forehead if he made frowning a habit. His dark eyes were focused on his feet, a guarded look concealing whatever there was inside those orbs. Like a wall, or some sort of an obdurate façade. As if he was afraid that someone was going to look, to pry into his eyes and see /something/ there. A weakness, perhaps, underneath all those macho, high-and-mighty act he strutted on. An arrogant fool.

Could /Sasuke/ be the demon?

She finally swallowed the finely mashed ball down her throat, swiping her tongue over her lower lip in order to ignore the odd, nearly nauseating taste spreading out from her stomach. Despite that unpleasant sensation, Ino separated some better looking shrimps (hah, they're all dead anyway!) than the others, picking those shrimps and absently put them inside his reclining mouth. A small helping of rice followed afterwards and the chewing commenced once again. Her eyes were moved to latch on Naruto, who was sulking and grumbling from Kakashi-sensei's 'punishment'. A sudden gust of wind barely ruffled his spikes, golden sunlight highlighting the lines around each spikes, giving them some sense of an individual aesthetic value. Those blue, blue eyes were cast downwards, though Ino couldn't actually /see/ what they mirrored at that time. Must be anger at their sensei, or maybe even a sliver of determination (?). Her eyes fell on the deep whisker marks by the boy's cheeks and Ino blinked, chopsticks askew.

What /did/ cause those scars? An accident? A fight with other boys?

What?

And then, Naruto's stomach chose that exact moment to grumble loudly.

Ino raised her eyebrows, chewing halted to a stop as she scrutinised the embarrassment etched firmly onto Naruto's face. His cheeks were burning a deep magenta and his head hung as low as his bind allowed, muttering incoherent words under his breath. Sasuke also looked up, though he had something close to a /sneer/ playing on his face. Ino's facial nerves worked themselves into a scowl of disapproval, before she stared down at the bento box rested on her lap. At the soggy, mushy rice with garish topping. At the now-scattered dead shrimps. At the crumbled remnant of charred fish. Suddenly, she didn't feel like eating anymore. But throwing them away seemed to be too much of a waste, no? Her eyes darted back to Naruto, who had ceased muttering, then down at the bento box. Fingers curled resolutely around the sharp edges.

To Hell with Kakashi-sensei's warning! They're /teammates/ dammit!

"Want some?"

Naruto whipped his head to the source of that voice, startled eyes meeting calm, patient ones. "Eh?"

"I said, do you want some?" Ino picked on the carrots. "They're /awful/ anyway."

"You're only giving them to me because they're awful, huh?" the incredulous tone was not lost to Ino. Both blondes shared a chuckle together. Smothering down the small ripple of motion through his tied body, Naruto gravely shook his head and said, in an uncharacteristically low voice, "I don't want you to fail because of me. That's not fair."

Ino shifted on her other foot, annoyance surfacing at the refusal. The offered ball of rice by the tip of the chopsticks hovered dangerously close to Naruto's nostrils as she curtly snapped, "The only thing unfair here is that I have to suffer /bad foods/ and you're /not/. I bet /Kakashi-sensei/ made them to test our endurance against poisons, most probably the /deadliest/ ones."

"But you'll fail!" The tone was positively miserable, guilty even by then.

"Yeah, well better fail this fricking test early than having to listen to your stomach grumbling out a full orchestra by the time we're supposed to be hiding!"

"But what about Kakashi-sensei?"

Unexpectedly, another ball of rice and a pair of chopsticks joined the first one.

"Eat up, I can't sense Kakashi's chakra anywhere near," Sasuke's cold voice cut through the air, his dark eyes narrowed and flashing some kind of a silent threat. And then, as an afterthought, he added, "Dobe."

"Hey, who're you calling—!"

Naruto never did have the chance to finish the sentence, mainly because he found his throat being shoved with rice and shrimps and fish once he opened his mouth. An ambush! A sneak attack! Ino was grinning widely as she pushed in another packed ball of rice, while Sasuke was steadily tossing shrimps into Naruto's gaped mouth with such efficiency like he had done that in his entire lifespan or as a favourite pastime activity. Naruto gagged when one of Ino's chopsticks found its way to the back of his throat and both genins instinctively took a step back to survey their work and presumably, gave Naruto the time to breath and swallow those food. The blonde boy did both at once, breathing and swallowing, and was about to say something when his eyes widened in alarm. He was looking past their shoulders.

Dread squeezed Ino's heart. Don't turn back, don't turn back, don't turn back…

Ino gulped and glanced over her shoulder; Sasuke doing the same.

Kakashi-sensei!

"YOU—!"

The silver-haired jounin was advancing towards them rapidly, a maniac fire flaming inside his visible eye, making the cobalt irises burn with orange and red tinges. He was pointing his index finger at them, bushy silver hair wilder than ever and he was actually doing a pretty good job in scaring the hell out of Ino.

Are going to fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.

Ino grinded her teeth together.

Fail.

"— all passed."

Fai— eh, WHAT? Three jaws hung open (Sasuke's was not /that/ obvious) and they gawped at Kakashi-sensei, who was /beaming/ at them. The jounin stood with his hands on his hip, waiting for his students to snap out of their trance-like state and cheer or demand explanation or smack him or /anything/. Crickets chirped, birds squawked overhead and someone's house caught fire in the village but the three stunned genins made no whatsoever attempt to break the silence. Ino was still wearing that drat-I'm-going-to-fail look on her face, bits of rice were trailing down Naruto's mouth and Sasuke's chopsticks were slack in his nerveless fingers. Kakashi-sensei impatiently tapped his foot, the furious tap, tap, tap sending some kind of a coded signal to his students. Sasuke was the first one to recover his cool, closing his subtly parted lips and growled at Kakashi-sensei.

The growl worked magic in restoring his other teammates. "Kakashi-sensei, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto yelled, spewing whatever poor morsel he didn't quite swallow yet. "I thought you said—"

"I know, I know," the jounin waved the question off and sat on a dead log. He grinned at them. "Let me tell you, you're the first batch that /did not/ follow my order. Others before you blithely ignored their teammate in favour of passing my test. But of course in the end, they didn't."

Respect took roots and blossomed inside Ino for the lazy perverted sensei before her, as the jounin began relating the importance of teammates in missions and such. She had also sat down to listen, the forgotten bento box lying near her crossed legs. Once, Kakashi-sensei actually looked her way and winked, before resuming his ranting. Ino felt the corner of her mouth curved upwards and she sneaked a glance at Naruto. The blonde boy was listening to Kakashi-sensei in apt attention, the trace of earlier indignation replaced by one of fascination. Even though he was tied to a pole, Ino could still /felt/ iron-wrought determination radiating from the boy. The jounin's words weaved in and out with her thoughts, attention divided to listening and watching. Sasuke was taking in the explanation like he had known them all along, his face a canvas of perpetual aloofness.

Smiling to herself, Ino shook her head.

Her teammates /could not/ be a demon. Not those two.

She rubbed the pad of her thumb over her knuckles, forcing her mind to peel itself away from that subject. Kakashi-sensei had done talking and was beaming at them once again. " I have to go now and I want to meet the three of you tomorrow morning, same time, same place. Don't be late."

"Look who's talking," Ino chided sarcastically, earning her a grin from Kakashi-sensei. She grinned back and stood up, brushing dirt and dried leaves off the back of her purple skirt.

The silver-haired jounin freed Naruto from the bind, waved a hand and disappeared in a blink of an eye. Again. Naruto shook his numb limbs, the grin on the boy's face too wide to ignore. "Kakashi-sensei might be one perverted teacher, but he sure is cool!"

"How 'bout we celebrate over some ramen?" Ino proposed, looking down at the bento box. Images of Ichiraku's /edible/ treat made her kick the box away, watching it toppled and leftover scraps spilling onto green grass.

Naruto whooped and punched the air. "Alright! I can't wait to tell Iruka-sensei about this!"

Sasuke was starting to walk away, as usual. Ino narrowed her eyes, annoyed at the knowledge that the Uchiha /always/ declined get-togethers or parties, everything that involved mingling with other people. Even while they were in the Academy, Sasuke would be missing if there were commotions and general social events. Sure, what with his traumatic childhood, the Uchiha massacre and all that soap opera-worthy experience, anyone couldn't really blame the boy if he wanted to be all detached and cold towards people. But really, a little meal with his teammates couldn't have been /that/ much of a burden, right? And if they were going to be stuck and working together in the future, might as well start the… um/bonding/ thing right away. With that resolution firm in mind, Ino briskly walked up to Sasuke and gripped the boy's shoulder.

Sasuke spared her a death glare. "Let go."

"No."

"What do you want?" he moved his shoulder sharply away from Ino's fingernails and turned to face Ino, glaring.

The blonde girl, stubborn as she was, didn't even flinch. "Naruto and I are going to Ichiraku and /you/ are coming with us."

"Oy, Ino-chan, what'cha doing?" Naruto's ecstatic voice came from somewhere behind her. "Ichiraku's waiting for us!"

"Wait a sec," Ino flashed Naruto a grin, which morphed into a small, strained smile when she looked at Sasuke. "Come on, it won't kill you."

"Hn."

"We're teammates now, you know. We need to work together," her patience was stretching to its limit and Ino didn't know how long she could speak civilly to this obstinate boy before she resorted to yelling. Yelling at Sasuke won't be pretty picture. "And like Kakashi-sensei said, it's all about teamwork. I'm not asking you to join a slumber party in Naruto's house or something like that; just a bowl of ramen. Please?"

Sasuke looked like he was going to grunt and stalk away but to Ino's surprise, he simply heaved an almost exasperated sigh and muttered, "Just /one/ bowl."

"That's good enough," Ino chirped, clapping her hands together in satisfaction. Hah, even Mr. Ice Block Uchiha had to succumb to her charm! Unconsciously, Ino grabbed Sasuke's hand, like she had often did to Shikamaru everytime she dragged the lazy boy to practice. She completely missed the brief shock on the pale face, bounding energetically towards the waiting Naruto. "Last one to the stand's impotent!"

xxx

"—and then, I told Iruka-sensei that if he couldn't get a date to the ball, I'll use my Sexy no Jutsu and be his 'date'. He got all panicked because he didn't want some /nude/ girl tailing him around."

Ino sniggered, choking on her noodle. "So did he get a date after that?"

"Yeah, some Chuunin woman with this /huge/ boil on her right cheek and really funny nose. Like a swollen pear," Naruto cackled again, settling his empty bowl on the wooden counter. "He couldn't say 'no', ya know, 'cause he /have/ to go to the ball and he /have/ to bring a date. Iruka-sensei called in sick last minute, but I saw him hiding everytime he sees that Chuunin woman."

"Poor Iruka-sensei," the girl chortled, shoulders shaking with laughter. "And to think I had a massive crush on him when I first saw him in the Academy." She sighed at the fond memory. When Ino realized that Naruto was gaping at her, she shrugged. "Hey, he's cute, okay? I couldn't help it. I was, what, eight years old at that time?"

"Hn."

"Sasuke, no grunting while eating," Ino teasingly admonished the Uchiha, grinning over the rim of her bowl at him. Sasuke was still on his first and only bowl, methodically picking on the strips of fried chicken, then the shrimps (healthy dead ones this time) and lastly, the coiled noodle. It was as if he was meditating over his ramen.

Naruto stacked his fifth bowl onto the others and said, "Are you /ever/ going to finish eating, Sasuke-bastard?"

"Shut up, dobe," snarled the dark-haired boy and picked on his shrimps. And then, his noodle. Meticulous, I'm telling you.

"Leave the guy alone, Naruto," Ino interjected, cutting Naruto halfway through his impending outburst. She fished some notes and coins, tossing them onto the counter. Raising an eyebrow at the blond boy, Ino asked, "Are you done?"

Naruto wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his orange jumper, glowering slightly at Sasuke. "Yeah, why?"

"You said you wanna meet Iruka-sensei," Naruto nodded. "I want to tag along. It's been quite a while since I met sensei."

"Sure," he slipped off the stool and placed some crumpled notes on Ino ones. Jerking his chin at Sasuke (who was by then picking on his chicken strips), Naruto said, "What about mute guy over there?"

Ino whapped the back of Naruto's head. "I'm sure he knows his way home. If he doesn't, he can always sleep in the park. They have enough benches."

Sasuke actually looked up at that and death-glared Ino.

"Yosh, let's go!"

"Naruto, look out for that—"

"OWW!"

"— branch. You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

Grumblegrumblegrumble.

"I heard that, whisker face."

**TBC**

Review or I'll send my mutated killer squirrels after you.

**Kaara**


	3. Zephyr

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine /again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

A steady two-day interval update, happy? Many thanks to the reviewers; I read each and every one of them while drowning in happy bubbles. One reviewer pointed out that I had Inoshi's hair colour wrong; stating it to be dark instead of the correct blond, Ino-like. My mistake but as usual, I'm too lazy to correct it. It's not you, it's me. Maybe if I've escaped from my laziness, I'll go back and go through my mistakes. Until then, let's just pretend that Inoshi dyed his hair momentarily. Okay?

Onwards.

xxx

**Chapter Three: Zephyr.**

xxx

"Can we stop at my apartment first?" Naruto asked, tugging uneasily at the end of his orange jumper. "I need to pick up some scrolls I borrowed from Iruka-sensei."

Ino shrugged and winked at the blond. "Sure. You don't mind inviting me in for a glass of juice or something, right?" She arched an eyebrow when Naruto's shoulder sagged noticeably. "What?"

"Nothing," the reply was too quick to be honest but Ino said nothing, acting as if she didn't notice the uncomfortable twitches of the boy's mouth. She figured that maybe Naruto would tell her when he felt like it. Or she could throttle it out of him later.

The street was becoming increasingly narrow as they walked in silence, dirty brick wall ornamented by various colourful graffiti circling ill-kept apartment complexes coming into view and small urchins running after one another with happy shrieks and yells. Their mothers were sitting, smiling and chatting to one another on worn benches under the shadows of old, twisted trees as they watched their children indulged in childish games. One small boy tripped on a stray pebble, stumbling onto the dusty ground with a cry. His mother scrambled to his side in an instant, cooing and crooning soothing nonsense until the boy's cries was reduced to hiccups and sobs. His friends clustered around him, waiting for the boy to get on his feet and back to their game. Ino was surprised when she glanced at Naruto; the eyes that used to sparkle mischievously were staring at the sobbing kid and the middle-aged woman in envy, a gleam of sadness and… pure /loneliness/ permeating those sky-blue irises.

Ino's heart ached painfully at the sight.

Ino wanted so badly to come up a witty remark, whap the back of Naruto's head or argue about something ridiculous until their throats run dry, just so she could bring that annoyingly cocky grin back, or to hear the boy yelling in irritation at her. Sadness /really/ didn't suit Naruto at all; it dulled his eyes horribly and for a split second, it was as though it was not Naruto who walked besides her at that time. Not the cheerful, hyperactive Naruto that she knew. Instead of all that, Ino couldn't bring herself to do anything. Her hands hung strangely limp by her side, guilt seeping slowly into her conscience for seeing something that she should not see. Like she had pried into Naruto's deepest secret without his consent. The small boy had already jumped onto his feet, crowded by his noisy friends before they ran to another place, to play another game. Ino tucked a few strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ears, words failing the girl for the first time.

"My place's on the third floor," Naruto suddenly spoke up and Ino realized that they had stopped in front of one apartment complex. It was shabby and tattered with rusty set of gates that creaked loudly when Naruto pushed them open, the once cream-painted wall chipped in places and tired looking shrubbery struggled to continue blooming on the barren ground. Laundry swayed on weary lines from numerous balconies, the wind carrying voices and other unidentified noises to surround the two genins. Several women scurried around those balconies, scooping random objects or clothes before hurrying into their apartments when shrill cries or yelling started to resound inside.

The pain constricting Ino's heart hardened, intensified by a hundredfold.

Naruto /lived/ here?

She glanced at the blond boy, whose eyes were no longer supporting the sad look but were carefully cheerful. As if Ino had only imagined his reaction before. She clenched her fists, the muscle of her face taut into a grimace. Naruto led her to one side of the complex, where poorly trimmed hedges bordered the sidewalk and cluttered debris and litters lay forgotten on the pavement. The stairs were in similar state of neglect and as they mounted it, Ino wrinkled her nose when a repugnant smell assaulted her nostrils, some kind of a mix of day-old puke and overcooked cabbages. There were people yelling above them, before the yell eventually died down once they arrived at the landing. Two elderly women were facing each other, their thin lips twisting into sneers of plain disgust and hatred as their tiny, watery eyes glared at Naruto under white eyebrows. One of them, who wore an oversized nightgown with flamboyant flower patterns actually spat onto the filthy floor and with a last glare directed to Naruto, retreated into the confinement of her grimy apartment and slammed the door shut. The other woman mirrored her friend's action, with an even louder slam.

Ino blinked in complete disorientation and turned to Naruto for an explanation, only to find the boy fumbling with his keys. Naruto inserted one key into the keyhole, turning it and twisted the doorknob without leaving his eyes off the door. Finally looking up to grin at the dumbfounded Ino, Naruto exclaimed, "Are you going to come in or do you want to wait outside?"

"In, I guess," Ino pushed the curiosity that was /again/ nagging at her to the back of her brain, slipping off her ninja sandals at the entrance. She placed them beside Naruto's and allowed her eyes to roam around Naruto's small apartment.

There was not much inside. Literally. The room was no bigger than the living room in her house, acting as both living room and bedroom at the same time. A battered table stood in the middle of the room, its smooth surface marred by burn marks and some deep scratches. Chairs were two sad little stools, assembled around the table like faithful companions that had seen better days. There was an unmade bed pushed to one corner of the apartment, the lumpy mattress and pillow covered in worn casings. A trunk sat close to the end of the bed and there was a yellowish white shirt spilling out from its opened depth. Ino winced when her bare feet made contact with something solid, bending down as she retrieved an empty instant ramen bowl. Dropping that onto the table, the girl made her way to the window, its blurry glass seemed to have never been introduced to a clean rug and water. Looking out, Ino could make out some kids running around a dying tree, their cheerful yells making the air inside the apartment gloomier than before.

How could Naruto live in /this/ place?

Soft footsteps snapped Ino back from his dark musing.

"Sorry if it's a bit messy," Naruto's voice was laced with awkwardness and he placed one of his palms on the windowsill. Ino drew away from the window, sucking in a deep, calming breath and turned to stare at her teammate. Naruto had several scrolls clutched to his chest as he continued grinning at the girl. "Too lazy to clean up."

At that very moment, Ino realized that Naruto, the strong, ridiculously stubborn Naruto needed a friend, and not her pity. That made Ino kick herself repeatedly (in her mind, that is). She placed her hands on her hip and scowled in mock anger. "You're not going to be lazy around me, whisker face. We got so much thing to do from now on!"

"We?" the boy questioned sceptically.

"Your place," Ino flailed her arm in exasperation, "Need a complete makeover as well as a thorough cleaning. And lucky you, I'm free this weekend."

Naruto's jaw (if it was physically possible) hit the floor. "WHAT?"

"We're cleaning your house this weekend, whisker face."

"But WHY?"

"Because you're living in a dump, that's why!"

"My house is NOT a dump!"

"What, you're expecting me to believe that when I found empty ramen bowls on your floor?"

Said empty instant ramen bowl bounced off Naruto's forehead.

"But I HATE cleaning!"

"That's why you need someone to order around your lazy ass for you!"

"Are you cleaning your soul for heaven or something?""

"No, because I'm cleaning this /hell/ instead!"

"Whose place are you calling hell?"

"Stop whining like a brat, whisker face, and start being responsible for once!"

"I… I—"

"Not another word," narrowing her eyes dangerously, Ino snatched half of the scrolls from Naruto's hand and stomped to the door. "I'll come this weekend and you better have some good excuse if I find more trash at that time. I'll skewer you using a mop if you don't."

Naruto caught up with Ino as she was putting on her sandals, his blue eyes flashing with annoyance. "I don't need you cleaning my home! I can do it myself!"

The blonde girl gave Naruto a measuring look and snorted. "I doubt that. When was the last time you did laundry, Naruto?"

"Er…" the boy scratched the back of his head, a sheepish grin replacing the furious snarl on his face. "Last… week?"

Ino sighed and shook her head. "My point exactly. Cut the crap and let's go to Iruka-sensei's place. I need to be somewhere tidy again to cleanse my poor, poor eyes." She did a dramatic gesture of fussing over her eyes for emphasis.

Naruto indignantly 'Hmph'-ed and locked his apartment when they had stepped out. Ino found herself relaxing slightly when the two elderly women that had glared at Naruto were not there, though it puzzled her of why they had shown blatant hatred towards the boy. Like he carried a contagious disease or something. And why the blond boy acted as though he was used to the treatment. Naruto had bounced down the stairs and Ino, cursing because the blond boy had abandoned her alone in the hallway, raced down instantly and conveniently forgot her disconcerting thought. For one thing, Naruto was as fast as he was loud and before long, Ino wished that she had had the heart to throw kunai at the blur of orange in front of her. They had escaped the area and took a shortcut to the other side of Konoha, where Iruka-sensei resided near the Academy.

Ino eventually stopped running in favour of walking, huffing and wiping beads of sweat from her glistening forehead. Fleetingly, Ino wondered where the heck Naruto got the stamina to keep going and going like there's no tomorrow but quickly decided that it must be from all those ramen that he ate. Gluttonous whisker face. Naruto, to his credit, had also slowed down when he could sense Ino's rage dissipating behind him. Scrolls a careless display in his lax arms, the boy fell into a much decent pace besides Ino, grinning in smug victory at the panting girl. She raised a hand and punched Naruto's shoulder playfully, saying nothing since she was still trying to even out her breathing from the strenuous activity. If running after a loud brat could be called strenuous activity, that is. Naruto grinned, shifting the light weight he was carrying to rest more comfortably against his chest. The buildings around them had morphed from simple architecture to those with slightly artistic touch, delicate carvings of mythical animals decorating several pillars and wooden poles that they walked past without a second glance.

"Nice neighbourhood," Ino commented, admiring the neat lines of shady trees along the paved road. The pleasant scent of post-winter invited a smile onto the girl's face as she balanced the scrolls in her hands.

"Yeah, Iruka-sensei don't have any girlfriend so he used his money spoiling himself," Naruto quipped, chuckling to himself.

Ino frowned at the remark. "Are you trying to imply that having a girlfriend is costly?"

An impish grin widened on Naruto's face. He pretended to nod thoughtfully. "Of course. Guys have to pay whenever they went to a date, right? And have to buy gifts and all that shit for their girls. Flowers, chocolate…"

"Baka. That's not compulsory," tittered the girl, brushing her bang from her eyes as she glared incredulously at Naruto. "Who told you that?"

"Sakura-chan. I asked her out for a date once and she told me that I couldn't possibly afford it. Then I asked why not," a pout begun forming at the memory, cheeks puffing up in aggravation. "And she tells me that she would /love/ to eat in a classy restaurant with /dear/ Sasuke-/kun/ if she ever went on a date."

Ino chuckled in amusement. "Well, that's Sakura to you. To me, if you bring me to Ichiraku and we eat ramen, as long as we had a good time and enjoy ourselves, then it's loads better than eating in an expensive restaurant with a conversationally-deprived pretty boy."

A laugh escaped Naruto's lips at the honest confession. "Hah, that's because you're /cheap/."

"Hey!" Ino exclaimed indignantly, hurt by the accusation. She couldn't whap Naruto like she intended to do as her arms were taken into custody by the rebellious scrolls. Besides, the blond boy had had the foresight to run a few steps ahead of Ino.

"Sorry, sorry," choking back his laughter, Naruto winked at Ino over his shoulder before laughing again. "But it does seem more /convenient/ to bring /you/ out for a date, ne, cheapskate?"

"Shut up," growled Ino, regretting ever saying anything to Naruto. The blond boy had the tendency to annoy people even if he didn't mean it. Maybe /that/ could be his bloodline limit. Annoying People to Death no Jutsu. Ino mentally snickered at the thought, half-jogging to keep up with Naruto.

Two shortcuts and three bickering later, both genins finally arrived in front of a door marked with the number '13'. Iruka-sensei's apartment was everything that Ino had imagined it would be; clean, neat, spotless and awfully immaculate. The whole setting practically screamed 'TEACHER!' to the eyes of visitors. The brown-haired teacher, who was wearing a dark blue sweater and faded grey sweatpants greeted them with a surprised smile; the smile mostly directed at the grinning Ino besides Naruto. He ushered the two in, gathering the scrolls from his two former students and stacked them systematically in different boxes on a working table just besides a small aquarium. Inside the aquarium were two small goldfishes, smaller than usual ones, swimming around contentedly inside the glass confine. There were also potted plants on the windowsill, young leaves resting softly on the dark maroon pots.

"Sit down," ordered Iruka-sensei, waving them towards a comfortable-looking couch by the wall. He moved the papers he had been grading before they came onto another table and stared intently at the two genins. "Do you want anything to drink, Ino? Naruto usually have hot chocolate when he comes here."

"Water will be fine, sensei," Ino answered politely, smiling at the young chuunin.

Iruka-sensei nodded and disappeared into a hallway, presumably leading him to the kitchen. Naruto left the couch to squat in front of the cabinet underneath the television set, opening it and pulling out a rectangular green box. He rummaged around for something and came out with another box, this one a square and a lot smaller than the first, though it shared the same dusty green colour. He grinned cheekily, two boxes in hand and bounced towards Ino, who was curiously craning her neck at the blond boy. When Naruto set the boxes on the table before them, Ino realized with a jolt of surprise that it was 'Scrabble'. She blinked and arched an eyebrow at the boy.

"Scrabble?" Ino asked, just to make sure that her eyes were not deceiving her. Naruto was the last person in Konoha that she would imagine being interested in a game of words.

The grin widened. "Why, afraid that you're going to lose?"

"Are you challenging me, whisker face?"

"Careful, Ino-san. Naruto is not as illiterate as people expected him to be," came a jovial voice from their right. Iruka-sensei was leaning against the wall, a gentle smile gracing his lips. In his hands was a tray supporting three mugs with distinctive kunai and shuriken patterns. He crossed the room in three strides, placing the tray on the parquet floor and sat cross-legged besides Naruto. Ruffling the boy's hair, Iruka-sensei joked, "There's a good brain underneath all his brashness."

"Iruka-senseeeei," whined Naruto, pouting at the chuunin.

"I wouldn't have guessed," Ino gleefully teased, deftly avoiding a scrabble piece aimed towards her forehead by a certain pouting blond. She settled on the floor too, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Bring it on."

The pieces were enthusiastically jumbled and soon, there were only faint sighs and thoughtful 'Hm…' residing in the room. Ino and Naruto glared at each other over the edge of their tables, almost similar blue eyes twinkling with confidence. At one side, Iruka-sensei sat forgotten with his own table, eyeing his former students with a whimsical smile on his tanned face. The Academy teacher started the game with the word, 'FRIEND' boldly placed in the middle of the board. Ino frowned, slender fingers hovering above her own pieces. A grin surfaced and she countered with a 'DUMB', smirking at Naruto. Perhaps sensing that the word were meant for him, Naruto shot Ino a glare before rearranging his pieces on his table. Two seconds later, he came up with a 'BLONDE'.

Iruka-sensei openly chuckled at /that/.

The game was fast and furious, mostly because Naruto and Ino kept glaring and Iruka-sensei kept chuckling at the childish competitiveness between the two teammates. Glorious sunlight that poured into the room from the opened sliding door by the balcony had dimmed considerably as the great orange ball sunk slowly into the far horizon, early stars winking in a distance. Too absorbed in their little game, none of the three ninja realized this until Iruka-sensei looked up to massage his sore neck, only to stare into the settling darkness. The chuunin gasped and glanced at the clock hung on his wall. Approximately ten minutes past seven. Iruka-sensei had to cough extra hard to attract the genins' attention.

"It's well past sunset," the teacher declared, his eyes particularly set on a groaning Ino. "Your parents will be worried if you don't come home for dinner, Ino-san."

Naruto immediately protested. "But Iruka-sensei, can't Ino just have dinner with us? She has to taste your ramen!"

"Well, I have no objection about that," Iruka-sensei replied, smiling again. To Ino, he said, "I can call Inoshi-san and explain to him if you want to stay for dinner. I'm sure he will give his permission."

"Are you sure I'm not interrupting anything?" Ino demurely asked, a barely-concealed hope shining in her eyes.

Iruka-sensei laughed and shook his head. "Of course not. How about you help Naruto clean up and I'll call Inoshi-san, okay?" Cleaning up consisted of hunting for numerous missing pieces of alphabets that they had thrown at each other during their game. Most of them ended up in odd nooks and crannies.

"Okay!" came the chorused agreement and two pairs of feet scrambled to work almost immediately.

Watching the two squabbled again, Iruka-sensei picked up his phone and made the call from his kitchen. Inoshi was the one who picked it up.

"Good evening, Inoshi-san," the chuunin greeted cordially.

"Iruka-sensei," came the warm retort. "May I ask why you're calling at this time? Is there something wrong in the Academy?"

"No, this is purely personal. I want to inform you that Ino had spent her evening in my company and I asked her to stay for dinner. I'm hoping that you and Saeki-san won't mind lending her for tonight," he couldn't help the formality, simply because he felt respect for those with higher ranking that his. And Inoshi was an experienced jounin, after all.

A short pause came from the other end, as if the jounin was contemplating something. Then, Inoshi's voice vibrated again, with a question, "Is Ino with that Uzumaki kid?"

It was Iruka-sensei's turn to stiffen. "Yes." He inhaled deeply and forced himself to loosen his tight grip on the phone. "Is there a problem, Inoshi-san?"

"Don't get me wrong, sensei," the voice was thick with hesitation. "But Saeki… she's not really happy with the… ah, arrangement of teams. Her father died while protecting Konoha from the Great Demon. And…"

"I'm sure Yoshinaga-sama was a fine shinobi," the chuunin curtly acknowledged, his grip tightening once again, a contrast to his softening voice, "My /parents/ also sacrificed themselves for the safety of Konoha, Inoshi-san. I don't mean to sound rude but Naruto is nothing but a boy. A boy with a dream, a future to mould with his own hands. What he needs is a chance and a friend. Ino accepts him the way he is and she should be the one to judge her friends, not others. I'm proud with her in that way, Inoshi-san. You should be too."

A longer pause greeted the Academy teacher after that. Iruka-sensei was starting to fidget on his feet when Inoshi spoke up again, "My sincerest apology, sensei. I'll talk to Saeki about this. Tell Ino to enjoy the dinner and thank you for having my daughter there."

"I'll tell her that, Inoshi-san. Thank /you/."

A silent click resounded from the other line and the tanned chuunin stared at the phone in his hand before placing it on top of the refrigerator. He traced his steps back to the living room, raising one fine eyebrow when he found out that instead of searching for the missing alphabets, Naruto and Ino were curiously tapping the glass of his aquarium, agitating his goldfishes into completing faster circles around the aquarium. The Scrabble boxes were still on the table, the lids thrown carelessly aside while some pieces lay cluttered on the heavily polished surface. Both looked up when Iruka coughed deliberately with the same guilty look on their faces, like they had just been caught doing something illegal. Naruto offered the chuunin sensei a goofy grin, while Ino plastered a lop-sided grin on her feature.

"They needed exercise," Naruto begun, pointing at the goldfishes.

Ino nodded on cue. "They kept going on and on slowly. We thought we'd make them go faster. Like an, um… exercise, you know?"

"Uh huh… Have you found all the pieces?" Iruka-sensei had to suppress a snicker when the two genins exchanged uncomfortable glances. "I'll give you ten more minutes. One piece missing even one minute after that, we're going to eat plain soba tonight."

"But sensei—!"

It was actually cute to see the two of them whining in complete unison but the tanned chuunin steeled his expression. "Don't you 'But, sensei' me. Ten minutes, genins, from now."

Naruto instantly launched himself to the back of the couch and Ino got on her knees, groping underneath the table and cabinets. Iruka-sensei grinned inwardly, crossing his arms against his sweater-clad chest and waited for his former students to complete their current 'mission'. One by one the missing piece turned out, piled into a small hill on the table by quick hands. Naruto and Ino covered the whole place with only one minute left to go and as they put the boxes back into their place, they grinned expectantly at Iruka-sensei.

"Nice work," the teacher softly praised and led the genins into his kitchen. He fetched two spare aprons from a cupboard, tossing them to Naruto and Ino, tying one around his form. Reaching for the biggest pot he had in the kitchen, Iruka-sensei began listing out the works they had to do in order to prepare their dinner. "Naruto, I want you to get the tofu and vegetables from the fridge, careful not to cut your fingers with the knife like last time. And Ino-san—"

"Ino," the girl defiantly corrected.

"Right, Ino," Iruka-sensei smiled as he said that, "I have some chicken over there. Do you mind skinning them?"

Seizing a gleaming knife from the counter, Ino shook her head and practically attacked the poor chicken. "Do you want to save the skin?"

"I'll deep fry them later," the chuunin filled water into the pot and placed them on the stove, picking up carrots, a knife and a chopping board to occupy his time while he waited for the water to boil. He spared a glance at Naruto, who was happily slicing the tofu into perfect cubes. "Hand me the noodles packets will you, Naruto?"

"Hai!"

"Ne, Iruka-sensei, can I do the frying part?"

"Sure, Ino. Naruto! Not the cabbage!"

"Sensei, I'm done!"

"Ino, grab the flour from that cabinet. No, the third one to your right."

"ARGH! I'M BLEEDING!"

"Baka, what the heck did you do with that knife?"

"Naruto, put your hand under the water! Ino, please fetch the medical kit in the bathroom. Two doors to your left."

"I'M GOING TO DIE!"

"Oh, shut UP, Naruto! Iruka-sensei, where's the medical kit?"

"Under the sink. Naruto, keep your hand under the tap! Really, I warned you already!"

"Here, sensei! How did you manage to mistake your wrist for the frickin lettuce? Something must wrong with your eyes, whisker face!"

"Ino, please stop yelling at Naruto. Now, let me look at that cut, Naruto."

"… Did that wound just close by itself…?"

"Huh?"

"Iruka-sensei, I thought it must've been a deep gash or something…"

"The two of you, not another word! Let me dress your wound, Naruto. Oh, my! The noodles!"

"I'll patch him up," Ino offered, taking the roll of gauze from Iruka-sensei's hand. The chuunin flashed her a grateful grin and dashed off to tend his neglected noodles. She wiped a smudge of flour from her cheek, only to have it trailed across her sweaty face. Wrapping Naruto's wrist with much efficiency from daily practice, Ino muttered darkly, "Someone should forbid stupid whisker faces from using knives."

Naruto bristled, as expected. "It's not my fault. It was the knife's."

"Now you've moved up a notch and starts blaming inanimate object for your stupidity, huh?" her words might be harsh, but Ino meant well with every single one of them. She fastened the end neatly and glared at Naruto. "Won't it be funny to have the future Hokage killed inside his own kitchen, with his own /kitchen/ knife sticking out of his hand?"

"Guess you're right," Naruto scratched the back of his head, an embarrassed grin on his face. He patted his bandaged wrist affectionately. "Thanks, Ino."

"Be careful, will you?" the girl's voice was gentler than usual when she said this, dusting her hands together. There was something akin to a sad glimmer in her eyes. "You're not indestructible, Naruto. Be nice to yourself." Even if others don't, Ino inwardly continued.

"Aa…" an awkward smile tugged Naruto's lips, faint dusty pink smearing his cheeks.

Iruka-sensei, as always, came to his rescue. Cooking chopsticks in one hand, the chuunin said, "Why don't you set the table, Naruto? Ino will help me with the rest, na? I'm afraid that I can't trust you with my knife anymore."

A dignified yelp escaped Naruto's throat when Iruka-sensei shoved him towards the living room, before he stomped to one cupboard and pulled put bowls and such. Casting a last glance over his shoulder at the chuunin and girl inside the kitchen, Naruto sighed heavily and trotted to finish his given task. Ino blinked, looking up at the smiling face of her former sensei. Iruka-sensei dimpled down at her, handing the girl the cooking chopsticks and pointed at a wok on the stove, besides the boiling pot of ramen. Stirring the sizzling rice inside the wok, Ino kept sneaking glances towards the general direction of the living room, where she caught glimpses of Naruto placing small bowls and glasses on the table, a tuneless whistle flowing jauntily from his lips. He seemed absorbed in his work and had quite forgotten their little spat before. Involuntarily, Ino felt her mouth curved into a relieved smile.

"Ino."

The blonde girl snapped to face Iruka-sensei with a start. "Y…Yes, sensei?"

"What do you think about Naruto?" the chuunin's face was devoid of any expression when Ino peered questioningly at him, his warm brown eyes trained on the cucumber he was slicing through.

Ino moved her eyes to the wok before her. "Anou…"

"The truth, please. I won't mind if you condemn him."

"He's stubborn and stupid," came the resolute retort. But before Iruka-sensei could respond to that, Ino continued, "But I like his stubbornness and his stupidity. Sure, why he wants to be a Hokage is beyond me but if he needs any help, I'll be there for him. That's what friends are for, right?"

Much to her surprise, Iruka-sensei laughed at her answer. He finally turned to look straight into Ino's eyes and she could clearly discern the approval in those liquid chocolate orbs. "Well said, Ino. I think you'll make a good shinobi in the future."

"Thanks… I guess," the direction of their conversation was more than a little ambiguous to Ino, but it did felt good to be praised by a teacher. She gave the rice one last stir before putting out the flickering flames and dumped the sweet-smelling fried rice into an oval-shaped salver. "You want me to do anything else, Iruka-sensei?"

"I'm almost done," the chuunin began topping three bowls under his ministration with chopped mushrooms. He juggled them to a tray, before opening a small drawer and drew out a teapot. "I'll make some tea and you can bring the food to the table. Make sure that Naruto didn't get his hands on the ramen first, okay? Or we won't have enough to feed ourselves."

Ino laughed and saluted. The table was ready when she ambled into the living room with the extra weight in her hands and by the precision of the whole setting (from the perfect angle of the chopsticks to the laid, crispy white hand napkins), the girl had a feeling that Naruto had done it often enough for him to develop a sense of tidiness. Iruka-sensei truly was a miracle worker! Ino placed the bowls in place, swatting one eager hand away when she had finished doing so and threatened Naruto that she would force-feed him steamed Brussels sprouts if he make another attempt to start eating without Iruka-sensei. That earned her an earful of grumbles and dark mutters. Said chuunin teacher arrived about five minutes later, another tray in hand and he allowed Ino to pour them each a cup of hot tea.

Dinner was a noisy affair; Naruto relating the test Kakashi-sensei had forced upon them that morning, with Ino snapping consistently at him when he exaggerated some details, confused facts with his fantasy and overall, made him look like an ass-kicking genin that he wasn't. Yet. Iruka-sensei laughed when a more-than-small amount of wasabi /mysteriously/ ended up in Naruto's bowl, Ino trying to convince them amidst Naruto's yell for water that it was an /accident/. If he hadn't seen the girl purposely squeezed the wasabi into the bowl while Naruto was doing some excited gestures with his hands, maybe Iruka-sensei would have believed her. He suppressed a fresh bout of chuckles at the innocent face Ino had put on when Naruto confronted her, the blond boy's face as red as a lobster and his tongue sticking out between his swollen lips.

By ten o'clock, both genins were bowing and thanking Iruka-sensei for an interesting afternoon and a nice dinner. The chuunin even invited Ino to spend her free time with them, playfully stating that Naruto and her still had a dispute to settle over certain words that Naruto swore existed and listed in the dictionary, ignoring the girl's protest when he paved on ahead with those words even if Iruka-sensei had produced a dictionary and looked them up in avail. Naruto had volunteered to walk Ino back home, walking in comfortable silence besides the girl as they passed the lines of trees in their way out from the neighbourhood. It was full moon that night, the silver shower of ethereal light made everything shone in a fey fashion. The streets were fairly deserted, some late shoppers and few drunkards were the only people that the genins came across. Reaching the Yamanaka Flower Shop, both paused on track.

"Thanks, Naruto. I had a great time," Ino said, grinning.

Naruto conceded with a wide grin of his own. "I had fun too. Maybe we should do this more often."

"Yeah," opening the side door of the shop, Ino stopped and gave Naruto a mischievous wink. "Remember that we've got some cleaning to do this weekend, whisker face."

The blond boy put both hands to the back of his head and laughed. "I'll makean effortto remember that, Ino-chan. See you tomorrow and good night."

"Night," came the reply.

**TBC**

Review or I'll 'accidentally' delete the next chapter.

**Kaara**


	4. Andante

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

**Please Read.**

Aa… I was amused, to say the least. It seems like last chapter's 'Review or I'll 'accidentally' delete the next chapter' remark sparks quite a few /different/ responses. Allow me to point out that I have a rather… twisted sense of humour and I thought Chapter Two's 'mutated killer squirrels' had made it quite plain. Apparently not. I was /not/ threatening anyone (specifically all of you) to review; I was merely humouring myself when I typed it. Would a sane writer delete his/her chapter after all the sweat and time devoted to finishing it? If there /are/ such writers, I'm glad to admit that I'm not one of them. My apology if you found it to be unbefitting and such. I was, am and will always be a Fool at heart.

Thank you.

xxx

**Chapter Four: Andante.**

xxx

Ino placed her sandals on the footwear rack, sighing as fatigue finally wormed its way into her system after all the excitement. The day had been a rough one, both mentally and physically. Yawning, Ino rubbed her knuckles over her eyes, yearning for a hot bath to wash away the collected sweat and her comfortable bed to sleep away the weariness. And to think that they had another meeting tomorrow morning. Well, Kakashi-sensei better be early for once and not planning anything downright sadistic again this time, she thought wryly. The girl was fairly surprised to see her parents sitting by the dining table when she pushed the back door open, as if they were waiting for her. Suppressing another yawn, Ino ambled in and closed the door behind her softly.

"I'm home," Ino unnecessarily announced, unnecessary being that Inoshi and Saeki had turned towards her direction when she had first opened the door. Her mother had a gaunt expression on her lovely face; her cheeks slightly flushed and had dry trails that looked suspiciously like tears running down her face. Inoshi, face unnaturally impassive, raised his hand to greet Ino. Smiling tiredly, the girl joked, "Are we having a family meeting now? 'Cause it won't do to wake up our neighbours if Mom starts throwing plates at Dad like the last time."

Inoshi laughed at that, though it sounded oddly strained to Ino's ears and she caught the fleeting glance the jounin spared towards Saeki. The blonde girl frowned and despite wishing that she could just go upstairs, had her shower and snuggled into Mr. Snuffles, Ino found herself pulling back a chair, the sound of scraping of wood against tiles breaking the silence inside the space. Her mother's manicured fingers were curled tightly around a mug, pensively staring into the dark, swirling depth of the coffee without a word. Ino had no idea of what had gone wrong between her parents but somehow, she felt like it had something to do with her, one way or another. If not, they would've gone to bed and sulked at each other for the rest of the week, instead of waiting for her. Was her mother still upset over her decision to become a ninja? Or was she dissatisfied over her achievements?

"Ino," her father's even voice snapped Ino out of her short trance. She tilted her head up to meet the jounin's eyes. "How was your dinner at Iruka-sensei's house?"

A grin eased its way onto Ino's supple lips. "It was great! We played Scrabble before that — Naruto cheated tons of times — and I helped Iruka-sensei with the ramen and rice. He's a really good cook." She glanced at Saeki and hastily added, "But not as good as Mom, of course!"

Saeki's grip on her mug tightened noticeably.

Her father nodded, albeit distractedly. Then, he squared his shoulder and scratched the back of his right ear, an impulsive reaction that he did everytime he was hesitating about something. "And this… Naruto, what do you think about him?"

There was something in the tone of Inoshi's voice that made Ino sharply looked away from her mother and stared at the jounin. That was the second time someone asked her what she thought of Naruto. Her curiosity was kicking in again, full force. "Why?"

Inoshi scratched the back of his ear again and asked, "Why what?"

"Iruka-sensei asked me the same thing," the girl revealed, her eyes narrowed to slits in suspicion. She drummed her fingers against the wooden surface of the table, waiting. "Is there something you're not telling me, Dad?"

"We… are just concerned… uh, about your teammates," came the stammered reply, and Inoshi was practically clawing at his ear by then. He was never a decent liar to begin with and Saeki, the better one between them, was not helping at all. The jounin sneaked another glance at his unresponsive wife and groaned inwardly.

Deciding that the sooner this 'interrogation' end, the earlier she could escape into her room, Ino impatiently said, "Naruto's stubborn and stupid. Sasuke's cold and annoying. Can I /please/ go now? I'm so tired and we have this meeting tomorrow morning and I'm dead sure that Kakashi-sensei will be late /again/." She was whining but Ino was beyond care. Shower and bed! Shower and bed! NOW!

"Do you like the Uzumaki boy, Ino?"

Ino blinked at the question, impatience swallowed by the insistence in her mother's voice. There was the hidden urgency, the need to know her answer that overwhelmed Ino. What is it with everyone and Naruto? "… Yeah, he's okay. At least he's not brooding and angsting around like Sasuke."

"You like him even though he's stubborn and stupid?" Saeki's tone was flat, persistent and flat. It was starting to unnerve the blonde girl. Her mother /never/ used that kind of tone before, not even in her worst temper. And she would rather face a yelling Saeki with plates in hand than this kinda silent Saeki if she were given an option.

And because she /hadn't/ been given an option, the girl had to think fast.

"I… Naruto always tries his hardest, really," Ino finally said, earnestly. "He told me he failed the Genin Exam /three/ times before he passed. And I don't know why but almost everyone seems to hate him. He's a really nice person when he's not yelling or complaining about my vegetarian ramen. Or calling Sasuke names, but that's unavoidable. And there were these two old hags at his apartment… You won't believe how horrible his apartment is! It's old, and smelly and, and…" she trailed on, remembering her promise to clean said apartment that coming weekend. Looking up, Ino was taken aback when she realized that Inoshi and Saeki were both staring intently at her. She also realized that her fingers had clenched into tight fists on her lap, the end of her dark purple skirt twisted between the slender digits. Visions of that brief flash of loneliness in Naruto's eyes and the disgust-filled sneer from the two old women flitted through her mind. Bowing her head, Ino said, almost pleadingly (though she could've sworn afterwards that she /did not/ sound like /that/), "Please don't hate him."

Inoshi placed his calloused hand on his daughter's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. "That's enough, princess." He turned to face his wife. "Don't you think so, Saeki?"

The dark-haired woman closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. Her fingers slowly stopped strangling the mug, her hands rested palms down on the table. Then, she smiled, a small, watery smile that somehow whisk away the frightful gauntness that dominated her face earlier. She looked almost like the ordinary Saeki that Ino knew and loved. "Of course."

"Okay, now that everyone's not acting all weird anymore, is anyone going to tell me /what/ exactly is wrong with Naruto?" Ino blurted out impatiently, glaring at her parents with as much authority as a twelve year old could possibly garner.

Which accumulated approximately to nothing.

"I have an idea!" Inoshi interjected with enthusiasm, as though he hadn't heard a single word that Ino had said. "Why don't we invite your teammates over for dinner tomorrow? You can help your Mom prepare the dishes and maybe you can even make that lovely chicken soup Grandma taught you."

"But, about Naru—"

"Don't forget the sensei, dear," cut in Saeki, wits pieced back together and was readily obliged to prevent any future unpleasantness that might arise between her daughter and a certain teammate least the secret uncover itself. She smiled her 'don't-worry-your-teammate-is-NOT-a-demon' smile at the bewildered Ino and placidly asked, "Kakashi, isn't it?"

"Yes, but Naru—"

Inoshi exclaimed, louder than necessary, "I heard Kakashi had to stand Guard at the Gate this entire week; Genma complained about that this morning. Said something about the slacker reading porn while working."

Ino was bordering exasperated, a breath away from pounding her fists on the table to demand attention from the two adults. "Naru—"

"Our daughter's sensei reads PORN?" the jounin scowled at his slip and cowered underneath his wife's towering figure as she advanced menacingly towards him, an equally menacing-looking frying pan in her hand. "Yamanaka Inoshi, answer my question!"

Uh oh.

"Can you please listen to me—"

"Please, honey, put /down/ that pan," somehow, Inoshi managed to squeak under the wrath of his wife, totally ignoring Ino. Though perhaps it would be kinder not to mention that the act was not due to his mission to distract his daughter from possible secret-digging. It was done solely on the basis of him coming out of the kitchen with his limbs intact and his skull free from pan-size crater. An angry Saeki with kitchen utensils was always a deadly combination, even if he /was/ a jounin.

"What is it about Naru—"

Saeki took another step forward. "Why didn't you tell me that our daughter's /sensei/ reads /unsuitable adult-rated reading material/ in PUBLIC?" The frying pan was by then gleaming dangerously under the artificial lighting of the kitchen and looked pretty much capable of amputating a jounin if it was given a chance and with proper handling. Saeki was a professional.

Huffing loudly, Ino crossed her arms against her chest and scowled. There was no way in hell her parents were going to tell her anything; not with Inoshi still trying to talk his way out of death by kitchenette and Saeki attempting to do just that. Sometimes, adults could be such children. Children with dangerous ideas and dangerous toys. The blonde girl heaved a sigh and quietly slipped away, remembering that she had a shower and a warm bed waiting for her upstairs. She managed to stow away some innocent plates that were within her mother's grabbing reach and inched towards the stairs with stealth that would have impressed even Kakashi-sensei. Flicking on the light switch, Ino staggered to her bed and flopped face down onto the soft mattress.

She had just defended /Naruto/ in front of her /parents/.

Ino groaned into the mattress, hands splayed above her head.

"I need a shower," she mumbled, willing her fingers to undone her ponytail and allowed her pale golden hair to pool uncomfortably around her face. Her elbows sunk into the mattress when she propped herself up, blinking blearily at her reflection across the room. A pale girl, with strands of hair sticking out in the most inelegant of ways all over her head greeted Ino. For a second time within two minutes, she groaned and repeated, "I need a shower."

It was a mystery how she survived the trip to the bathroom, pulled on her pyjamas (she might've missed a few buttons here and there) and crawled into her bed, as everything was a blur of memory to Ino. The last thing she remembered before collapsing into a dreamless comatose state was her mother's appalled screech and the black, beady eyes of Mr. Snuffles.

"YOU READ THAT PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A BOOK?"

Followed by a series of expensive crashes that echoed well over the neighbourhood.

xxx

The next morning was… calm. In the mildest of terms. Ino had woken up fully recharged and ready to yell at everyone and everything. It was bright and sunny outside, warm sunlight pouring inside her room once the blonde girl leaned over and unlatched the windows. The sky was beautifully cloudless, painted with the lightest shade of blue and buzzes of cheerful conversations reached Ino's ears from nearby marketplace. The girl lazily stretched, a satisfied smile playing on her lips as a few joints popped with the movement. She gathered some small articles of clothing that lay strewn across her room from last night and trudged into the bathroom, humming contentedly to herself as rivulets of water proceeded to soothe her sore muscles. Ino picked out a different outfit today, a short-sleeved dark purple top and a pair of black shorts. She eyed her reflection critically, smoothing visible wrinkles and grimacing in distaste when she found out that the top had clung tightly onto her body, showing off more curves than her usual clothes ever did.

Apparently, her mother had been too upset to do the laundry and left the poor girl with limited choice. Either the dark purple, tight top or a particularly pale pink dress shirt. With frills. It was unquestionable which one she would rather be found dead in. Drying her damp hair vigorously with a towel, Ino glanced at the electronic clock on her bedside table, the bold red numbers told her that she had half an hour to do her hair, wolf down breakfast and arrive in time for her team meeting. She flung the towel away, reaching for the hairdryer and hairbrush at the same time. Five minutes later, Ino was hopping down the stairs, trying to fix a couple of buttons on her shorts so that her thighs would not be as exposed as it would've been if she left the buttons on their own. A roll of gauze clamped by her teeth, Ino's colourful profanities were thankfully reduced to mere muffles and the occasional grunts as she skipped into the kitchen. The buttons finally admitted defeat after more fumbling and Ino slid with ease onto a chair.

"Morning, Dad," the girl chirped, smiling a little to brightly at Inoshi. The jounin was supporting a dark bruise underneath his left eye and Ino sharply observed that the set of imported plates her father had bought for her mother two weeks ago had disappeared from their place inside the glass display. Smirking knowingly at the frowning jounin, Ino poured some cereal into her bowl and popped open a carton of milk. "Where's Mom?"

"Outside. With flowers," Inoshi grunted, took a sip from his cup of coffee and leafed through his morning newspaper as to further ignore his daughter.

Ino chewed on her soggy cereal and pouted. Swallowing, she said, "It's not my fault you made Mom angry, you know?"

Her father shot her a betrayed glare before turning to his newspaper again.

"I was dead tired last night and it /was/ your fault to mention Icha Icha Paradise in front of Mom. I have to go," draining her glass of orange juice, Ino bounced to the door. "I'll ask the boys for dinner and somehow blackmail Sasuke if he don't want to go. Do you still want me to invite Kakashi-sensei?"

"NO."

The blonde girl shrugged happily and put on her sandals. "Okay then. See you later, Dad." And off she went, stopping at the flower shop to say goodbye and gave her mother a peck on the cheek.

The clearing was devoid of any living being except two distinctive figures that looked as though they were trying to kill each other from the distance. Ino, knowing better than trusting Naruto with Sasuke, sprinted towards them, fervently praying that they hadn't claw each other's eyeballs out. Or rather, Sasuke did the madman clawing part and Naruto play the hapless prey. Trying very hard not to imagine Naruto's face with two hollow sockets spurting forth blood and two dripping eyeballs clasped in Sasuke's pale hands, Ino increased her speed. When she arrived, her chest was flooded with an immense sense of relief. Naruto still had his eyes where they belonged and Sasuke was still pretty much… well, Sasuke. The blond boy was lying spread-eagled on his back, chewing on something that looked suspiciously like a celery stick as he watched the sky. Sasuke had resorted to his favourite pastime, tossing shuriken and kunai at an innocent tree somewhere to his left. She exhaled loudly, catching the attention of her two teammates.

"Ino-chan, you're late!" yelled Naruto accusingly, raising his head to glare at Ino from his lying position.

Sasuke acknowledged her presence by ignoring her. Typical.

Ino sauntered towards Naruto and sat besides the boy. "Kakashi-sensei's bad habit staring to rub off on me, I think."

"That's really serious," Naruto teasingly nodded, before rolling on his side and laughed loudly. Gasping for breath, the blond sputtered, "Imagine, Kakashi-sensei being contagious! Everyone would be late for everything and that dirty porn writer's going to be filthy rich. And the /Hokage/ with Icha Icha!"

"Yeah, you've got a point there," grinned Ino, brushing her bang away. She stared up the cloudless sky, thinking that Shikamaru would've been disappointed as he couldn't laze his ass around because his favourite cloud-watching activity would be futile if there was no clouds. Thoughts of Shikamaru somehow chained itself to a pink-haired girl with excessive forehead syndrome. Sakura must be off somewhere, with Shikamaru and Chouji… training… or yelling at Shikamaru to get off his butt and Chouji to stop eating. The grin on Ino's face widened; Sakura was stuck with Konoha's Sloth of the Century and a human vacuum cleaner while she had the overenthusiastic Naruto and the Uchiha survivor. Life couldn't have been better. Somewhere amidst entertaining herself with Sakura's possibly scarring experience with her two childhood friends, Ino was acutely aware of eyes burning invisible hole on her. She frowned and looked down at Naruto, who was looking up at her. "What're you staring at, you lech?"

"You," the boy answered, deadpan.

Pink tinges started to creep onto Ino's cheeks, much to her annoyance. "Why?"

Naruto chuckled somewhat embarrassedly, sat up and scratched the back of his head. He was still staring, though. "I dunno… I thought you look different today."

"I am?" Ino self-consciously smoothed her palm over the fabric of her dark purple top, frown darkening. "Is it the good kinda different or the bad kinda different?"

The boy took some time to consider his answer, before coming up with a, "It's the /good/ kinda different. You look—"

"Ino."

Both blondes looked up at the curt voice, only to find Sasuke standing inches away from Ino. He was glaring (was that murderously?) at Naruto and Ino's earlier images of an eyeless Naruto and Sasuke with extra eyeballs popped up most inconveniently from her memory box. Appalled, Ino shooed the images away and smiled at Sasuke. Hey, at least the Uchiha was making an attempt to start a conversation! That's a good development in his social department! … Which made the situation even more suspicious than it should. Why /was/ Sasuke talking in the first place? Ino figured that the best way to know things was to ask the very source of her curiosity. She mentally patted her back for such bright idea. "Yeah, Sasuke?"

"… There's something in your hair," that said, he extended his fingers and sifted them gently through Ino's ponytail, brushing out few bits of grass. Task done, Sasuke removed his hand and thrust it inside the pocket of his white shorts. His dark eyes were fixed on Ino's azure ones and the raising colour on her cheeks.

Ino swallowed and grinned awkwardly. "Uh, thanks. Didn't realize when those get in my hair."

"Hn."

To be brutally honest, Ino was actually expecting Sasuke to turn around and do whatever cool and boringly broody things that he usually done whenever they had to wait for Kakashi-sensei. That usually meant that he would be a clear twenty feet away from them with dangerous, pointy objects in his hands and an unsuspecting tree in his vision line. However, to her surprise, Sasuke opted to just stood there, a faraway look on his face and his lips thinning into a grim line. It was like watching a refined marble statue, except that statues did not go around freeing people's hair from the evil clutches of wild grass and Sasuke just did. Ino blinked in vexed confusion and glanced at Naruto, who were glaring obtrusively at the Uchiha. There was some kind of tension looming over those two, something that was unknown to Ino. And it royally pissed her off. She was sorely tempted to shake Naruto until he tell her what was going on but before she could do just that, a poof of smoke announced the arrival of their ever-late sensei.

"Yo."

Naruto and Ino automatically sprang onto their feet. "YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi-sensei's eye curved into a happy crescent and he held up a finger. "Aa, I was running through the forest when I ran across a giant panda—"

"LIAR!"

Sasuke grunted in time. "Hn."

"Well, we're going to the Hokage Tower today," the silver-haired jounin cheerfully declared, jumping off from the branch he appeared on and landed in front of the three genins. "You're doing your first mission today."

"YEAH!" Naruto roared, punching the air. "A mission! Will there be a runaway princess that needs bodyguard, or, or a priest on a secret mission to retrieve some holy things stolen by the mob, or, or, protecting a cook with a secret recipe that could make people live forever, or, or—"

Kakashi-sensei held up a hand to stop the tirade. "Hai, hai. You'll see once we get the mission scroll, Naruto." His one visible eye blinked appreciatively when it landed on Ino. "Changing your fashion style, Ino?"

The blonde girl furrowed her slim eyebrows and glanced down at her attire. It was still the same top and shorts she put on this morning; nothing too out of ordinary. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

"You have some nice cleavage line there," the jounin cheerfully (if not a bit too innocently) pointed out, a wide grin stretching underneath his mask. "You should ditch that old outfit of yours and wear something like this often."

A stunned silence met the statement.

"YOU STUPID, PERVERTED SENSEI!"

A very surprised Kakashi-sensei was forced to avoid a giant ball of flames and a dozen yelling 'Naruto's at the same time, propelling himself with an elegant arch onto a branch twenty feet above his students. Being a jounin, and the infamous Sharingan Kakashi nonetheless, the silver-haired ninja quickly assessed the situation and concluded after five seconds that two infuriated boys and a /ticked/ girl was not worth his life. After all, Konoha needed him for about twenty more years or until some berserker missing ninja killed him in a mission. His pride as a Konoha shinobi denied him of being killed on the ground that he had sprouted a dirty joke about his student. Naruto and his cluster of shadow clones were glaring heatedly up at the jounin while Sasuke opted for a more cool glare, looking as unruffled as he hadn't just attempted to barbecue his sensei. Ino was positively seething.

"That's sexual harassment, you idiot sensei!" Ino screeched heatedly, glaring daggers at the jounin. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously and her cheeks were painted brick red, no doubt from the bubble of mortification swelling inside her head. "I could've had you reported!"

Holding his hands up in defeat, Kakashi-sensei drawled out with as much innocence as an innocence-less jounin like him could muster, "It's just joke."

"Don't include Ino-chan in your dirty jokes, perverted sensei!" bellowed Naruto, one hand on his hip while another was pointed righteously at Kakashi-sensei.

Jumping down for the second time that morning alone, Kakashi-sensei chuckled good-naturedly and planted his hand on Naruto's head, avoiding a punch intended for his grinning face and messed up the blond spikes. "I'm impressed, though. You and Sasuke finally worked like one functional team, even if it was to kill me."

"Hn," Sasuke snorted and looked away.

The blond boy, however, had his jaw hung open in horror. "Sasuke-bastard and me did WHAT?"

"I guess I should thank Ino for that, eh?" the silver-haired jounin winked at the frowning girl. "Maybe I'll pitch more dirty jokes at you to get the boys working together in the future."

"Don't you dare!" hissed Ino acidly, pure malevolence radiating chakra-like from her and Kakashi-sensei, being the genius, knew which line he shouldn't cross and when he should quit poking at the girl. Ino wrapped her arms around herself defensively, the frown darkening. "Let's go to the Tower and get our frickin' mission already!"

At least /that/ made Naruto forgot his justified indignation at the jounin.

**TBC **

Review or I'll pair up Gai with Tsunade at the end of this fic.

**Kaara **


	5. Vertigo

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

I'm very, very happy. Elated, actually. Not only that I've taken 'thinking up absurd threats' as an official favourite pastime, an old dear popped up in last chapter's reviews. Even if you're in a slump, you're still the best slumper. Ever. And no, I don't have MSN. Yes, this will be one-sided SasuIno by the meaning of Sasuke going after Ino. To **Black-Hood**, I appreciate the thought very much and if you really want to write it, please email me with some basic outline of what you think had/should happened during that time. Maybe we can work something out together. And to those who are wondering, I'm still mulling over the idea of pairing up Gai with Tsunade. It's… addictive, really.

Fear the future of Gai and Tsunade together.

xxx

**Chapter Five: Vertigo. **

xxx

Team Seven was walking towards the Hokage Tower, the three genins walking in a line, with Ino taking up the middle position between Naruto and Sasuke. Their jounin instructor was slouching behind them, immersed in yet another heavenly adventure into pornographic literary escapade. Ino had apparently forgiven her sensei for his dirty remark before, as she engaged herself in a conversation with Naruto, said conversation consisted of atrocious name-calling and insults tossed back and forth from the two sides involved. They didn't seem perturbed by the exchanged insults though, identical cheeky grins plastered on both blondes' faces. Sasuke was brooding again, a frown adorning his pale forehead everytime he briefly glanced at the two happily chattering pair besides him.

Ino paused in the middle of telling Naruto that he had soggy ramen for his poor excuse of a brain and looked over her shoulder at the jounin, who had pink tinges on his masked cheeks. The pervert! Scowling, Ino resisted the urge to snatch the vile book away from the jounin and asked, "So, Kakashi-sensei, what kind of mission are we going to take?"

The silver-haired jounin looked up from his little orange book and did that reversed 'U' sort of creepy smile at Ino, who narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, you're going to receive mostly D-class missions, judging by the fact that you're fresh out of the Academy."

"D-CLASS?" roared Naruto, a look of utter disappointment on his face. The blond boy crossed his arms against his chest and scowled darkly. "That's BORING! OWW!"

"Well, you're just genins," Kakashi-sensei lazily said, slipping his left hand back into the pocket of his pants after he had bopped Naruto's head. "You can't be doing high class missions with your level right now."

Naruto huffed loudly at that. "I'm not afraid! I will be the Hokage someday!"

"Hn," Sasuke chose that very moment to grunt.

No mistaking of what he meant by /that/.

Before Naruto could yell a battle cry and launch himself at the Uchiha, Ino wisely clamped her hand on the scruff of the boy's orange jumper. Naruto's reaction and the move were easily anticipated that it was pathetic. "No decent Hokage gets riled up with a 'Hn', baka." Turning the glare at Sasuke (who impressively glared back), she spat out, "And you! I know Naruto's an idiot," said blond boy struggled and screeched in protest. "But can't you NOT do that? You know he's annoying when he's screaming his head /and/ our ears off."

Sasuke just looked away and grunted again.

An amused snicker from behind her made Ino scowl. She released her death grip on Naruto and shot a dirty look at Kakashi-sensei. "And what are /you/ so happy about? A new edition of Icha Icha scheduled for release today?"

Kakashi-sensei merely snickered some more and grinned, the thin fabric of his mask even stretched to faintly outline his curving lips. "I just realized that you make a good team leader, Ino."

"Of course I am!" the blonde girl puffed out her chest, attempting to look arrogant and smug.

Naruto indignantly retorted, "Hey, who died and appointed you the team leader? If there's anyone who should be the leader, it's ME!"

A thwack on the head silenced the boy. "Of course I should be the leader! It's obvious because I'm the only one with any semblance of maturity in this team." She thwacked Naruto's head again for good measure and shifted her attention at a certain Uchiha survivor. "Right, Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"Don't you dare act all aloof and shit in front of me," she glared at the pale boy, hands on her hip. "I don't care if you have all the girls in Konoha, or even the Fire Country, swooning over your ass, you're going to participate in any group activity from now on."

Sasuke stared at Ino like she had grown another set of breasts.

"And remind me to yell at Iruka-sensei for saddling the two of you with me if we ever meet him," Ino continued on as if she didn't noticed the look, exasperation evident in her voice. She flicked some stray strands of hair from her face and mumbled, "Really! I have one hyperactive monkey and a vocally-deficient pretty boy as teammates. What /was/ Iruka-sensei thinking?"

"Who're you calling 'monkey', cheapskate?"

"I told you to stop calling me THAT, ramen-brained whisker-face!"

Sasuke snorted when the two began bickering again, though the most observant of watchers could discern a faint gleam of /hurt/ flashing though his dark eyes.

As Fate would have had it, Iruka-sensei was manning the mission desk when they arrived at the Hokage Tower; Sandaime himself settled quite comfortably one desk away from the chuunin sensei with a pipe protruding from his withered lips. Naruto immediately barrelled headlong into his favourite sensei, knocking a pile of paper on his way towards the tanned chuunin and caused myriad of papers floating about the space. The blond boy grinned sheepishly when he had released Iruka-sensei's slim waist from his grip and realized his mistake. Kakashi-sensei had tucked away his book, one visible eye blinking at the mess. Ino had a dark frown and the clear 'idiot-look-what-you've-done' look on her face. Sasuke was brooding again, successfully appearing oblivious of the papers surrounding him.

Iruka-sensei was beyond mortification.

"Naruto!" the sensei chided, horrified as he stared helplessly at all the paper. "I spent /three/ hours sorting them out!"

"I'm so sorry, sensei! I'm really, really sorry! I didn't see them!" Naruto wailed apologetically, afraid that Iruka-sensei would hate him. Why, if Iruka-sensei hate him, then who would treat him to ramen again? And let him stay over for dinner? And patch his clothes up after he tore them? "Let me help you!" He hurriedly performed a sequence of handseals and yelled, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Ten exact copies of Naruto appeared amidst a settling cloud of smoke. Naruto joined them in an instant and started picking up the papers, shrieking out apologies and promises that he wouldn't do it again to a stunned Iruka-sensei. The chuunin eventually sat down behind the desk again, smiling softly as he watched the 'Naruto's scampering around with similar worried look etched onto their whiskered faces. Sandaime was also smiling, tapping the folders before him with his pipe. Other shinobi that were there supported varied expressions; from amusement to outright disapproval. Ino was also helping, though she was muttering darkly under her breath with every piece of paper she picked. After gathering all the papers, Naruto's clones promptly handed them over to the real Naruto before popping out of existence and the blond boy tidied up the stack carefully. Ino thrust her share of the 'work' at Naruto and helped him arranged the papers according to the serial numbers. The boy was helpless if it involved any sort of order.

Ino frowned as she sifted through the stack. "There's one more missing."

"What?" Naruto began wildly eyeing the floor, desperately searching for the absent piece. When he saw nothing, he moaned with both hands clutching his spiked head, "Noooooo! Iruka-sensei's going to hate me forever!"

Before said chuunin sensei could convince the anguished Naruto that he wouldn't possibly hate the boy over one missing mission report, a paper with lines of neat handwriting was extended towards Ino. The blond girl looked blankly at the paper and then smiled at Sasuke, taking it from the boy's hand. "Thanks."

"That dead-last missed the one by the table," Sasuke nonchalantly confided, face as blank as humanly possible.

"Really?" Ino distractedly retorted, before handing the complete stack of papers to Naruto and watched the eager boy dispatched them to Iruka-sensei's desk, her lips curling into a small smile. She dusted her hands, tugging down the hem of her shirt that had rode up her midriff when she reached for a paper.

Naruto, meanwhile, looked pleased when Iruka-sensei ruffled his hair and told the boy that he was not angry. "So, I heard someone's going for their first mission today," the chuunin teased, circling his arm around Naruto's neck in a headlock.

Kakashi-sensei suddenly stepped forward, one blue eye curved into a happy crescent and said, "We are. Mind giving us the scroll, sensei?"

The chuunin eyed Kakashi-sensei in a measuring glare for his interruption, before raising an eyebrow and released the headlock he had on Naruto. "Please wait for a second," Iruka-sensei replied stiffly, reaching for a tray on the desk. He pulled out a scroll and scribbled something onto the paper in front of him. Putting down his pen, he held out the scroll towards Kakashi-sensei. "Here is your mission for today, Team Seven. D-class."

The silver-haired jounin merely nodded and took the scroll without a word.

Naruto started badgering the chuunin sensei again. "Ne, Iruka-sensei, can't you give us cooler mission? I /know/ this is going to be lame!"

Iruka-sensei laughed and winked at Naruto. "Well, if you promise to behave today and complete the mission properly, I'll treat you to ramen for dinner."

Ino blinked when she remembered her parents' proposition, before they started trying to kill each other the night before. She scratched the back of her head awkwardly and said, "Actually, my parents invited my teammates to come over for dinner today."

"REALLY?" Naruto all but shrieked in elation, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. Ramen forgotten, he asked, "Your parents really asked me over?"

The girl couldn't help but to grin at Naruto's reaction. "Yeah, you and Sasuke."

"And what about your poor, little sensei?" asked Kakashi-sensei from behind them, eye dramatically droopy and a hand pressed against his chest. He sniffed and flicked an imaginary tear away from his eye for effect. "How could you push aside your own sensei?"

"My dad said you've got guard duty this week and I don't think you want to be anywhere within the kitchen area with my mom around," scoffed Ino. She was glaring at the jounin when a bright idea waded across her head. Turning to Iruka-sensei, who was smiling as he listened to Naruto's enthusiastic rambling, she excitedly said, "Iruka-sensei can join us too!"

"Yeah!" Naruto immediately agreed, chuckling at the astonished look on the chuunin's face. "Iruka-sensei, you have to come to!"

"But… I have work—"

Sandaime effectively cut through the flustered sensei's words. "You should take a night off today, Iruka-sensei. I'm sure Izumo or Kotetsu can fill in for you."

"But—"

"Aw, come on, Iruka-sensei!" whined Naruto, blue eyes shone hopefully. "It'll be fun!"

Ino smirked when she heard Kakashi-sensei muttered, "I think I've been forgotten by that brat."

She patted the jounin's back in mock sympathy and coaxed, "Don't feel so bad. Iruka-sensei's a thousand times better in teaching that you'll ever be."

"Thank you, Ino. Your support is /very/ admirable. I'm deeply touched."

The smirk grew wider. "Don't mention it." Without taking her eyes off the exchanges of words between Iruka-sensei and Naruto, she said, "You're coming too, you know."

Silence.

"Sasuke?"

"… You can't make me."

"Oh, I think I can," mischief danced in clear blue eyes as Ino tilted her head to meet the Uchiha's darker orbs. She was unmistakably challenging Sasuke and the dark-haired boy somehow felt like he had made the biggest mistake in his life. Not that he'll admit it, of course. Leaning closer to the rigid boy, she whispered, "You don't want Naruto to know about your… /obsession/ with /pink/ items now, do you?"

The dark-haired boy uncharacteristically sputtered.

"Imagine what Naruto will do with /that/ information…" Ino trailed on, taunting Sasuke mercilessly. "And what if," a dramatic gasp, "he told your entire fan base? The /horror!"

"Ino…" the tone was low and dangerous, promising very/very/ painful death if the subject persisted. She could almost /hear/ Sasuke's teeth grinding together.

Oh, the joy of blackmailing!

"I don't think Naruto would ever live that down," thoughtfully (and rather intentionally), Ino looked back at the bouncing blond boy.

"… You're getting a kick out of this, aren't you?"

"Whatever are you talking about, Sasuke-/kun?"

"… Fine."

A triumphant smile graced the girl's lips, and it was not only because the defeat she sensed in Sasuke's voice. Apparently, Iruka-sensei had succumbed to the sheer force of Naruto's puppy eyes and was nodding at the boy. The Hokage was laughing heartily besides the sensei.

Kakashi-sensei sighed and waved the mission scroll. "We have a mission here, guys. Better hurry up."

Naruto disengaged himself from his beloved sensei and exclaimed happily, "Coming, coming! Iruka-sensei, see you later!"

"Be careful," the chuunin waved back, a smile fixated on his face. "And Ino-san, what time will you expect us to arrive?"

Ino blinked. Well, she hadn't thought about /that/ yet. Trust Iruka-sensei to be so practical. Must be the whole lot about being an Academy teacher. "Er… eight, or something…?"

"Eight then," the sensei smilingly confirmed. "Have a great day."

"You too, sensei," Ino retorted, as they walked out of the pair of massive doors.

Iruka-sensei watched Team Seven's retreating back until they disappeared from view, a fresh argument between Naruto and Ino seemed to have erupted yet again, echoing along the hallway. The chuunin shook his head slowly, picking on his pen and opened a folder, ready to resume his work again. His attempt was short-lived though, as a cough from somewhere besides him made Iruka-sensei halted to a stop.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

The old man puffed out a trail of smoke and smiled at Iruka-sensei. "They make a good team, aren't they?"

"I was hoping so," the chuunin sensei replied, eyes straying to the doors. "Though I must say that I didn't expect Ino-san to be such good balance between her two teammates."

"As always, I trust your excellent judgement, sensei," Sandaime said, smiling at the blush blossoming on said sensei's cheeks. He tilted his angular hat-thingy to a more comfortable angle and leaned back into his chair. "Naruto has met his match, yes?"

Iruka-sensei scratched the bridge of his scarred nose and laughed. "It looks like it, isn't it? I've never seen Naruto opening up to someone like that and it really is a pleasant change."

Sandaime nodded thoughtfully and allowed their conversation to end there.

xxx

Their mission turned out to be hunting for a lost cat that belonged to some rich woman that was married to some rich/powerful/ dingbat. As ridiculous and petty as it sounded, the task was harder than Ino had first expected. Apart from Naruto's frustrated screams when they had begun tracking down the cat, Kakashi-sensei hadn't been helping at all. The silver-haired jounin had happily announced that he would sit back and watch them as a spectator, offering interval advices to his aggravated students and read that dirty book of his with such blatant ignorance that Ino was hard pressed not to snatch the book and whack the jounin's silver head senseless with it. The scrawny feline was a tricky case on its own, slipping out of their fingers in an uncanny resemblance of a furry eel everytime they tried catching it. Even Sasuke was having a hard time keeping his emotion in check, growling and snapping more than usual.

"Gotcha, furball!"

Naruto had lunged towards the cat after a signal from Kakashi-sensei, scooping it from the ground and rolled several times on the leaves-covered floor of the forest with the bewildered cat pressed firmly against his jumper-clad chest. The damn feline had led them around Konoha in a blind chase, only to end up at the outskirt of the town. Armed with some fancy electronic communication device that their jounin sensei had got his hands on from somewhere, they surrounded their 'target', reporting their position and considered several escape routes that the cat might took in its attempt to flee from its captors again. Then and only then, did they strike. Well, more like Naruto doing what Kakashi-sensei instructed him to do and the other two stood very still behind their respective trees. After their fifteenth failure, the jounin had heaved an exasperated sigh, lectured them for a whole fifteen minutes and took control of the mission.

"Is that the cat?" Sasuke asked, taking off the device from his ear. His left eyebrow was twitching in annoyance. Nobody could blame him though; they were more than willing to go berserk if they had the wrong cat after all those effort.

Picking up the feline by the back of its neck from Naruto's hands, Ino gave it a scrutinising glare and nodded. "Yep, red bow on one ear. This is Sora, alright."

"Mission accomplished, Team Seven," Kakashi-sensei appeared from a large thicket and grinned at his students.

"Good!" the blond boy huffed, dusting his dirty jumper and glaring at the furiously meowing cat. "Stupid, damned furball."

Ino tossed the cat back towards Naruto, who yelped in pain when the cat sunk its tiny claw into the exposed flash of his hand. To everyone's relief, the blond still had his fingers circled stubbornly around the cat, though he looked like he was a breath away from shaking the life out of the feline. Or fur. Whichever. Ino felt like she was going to murder someone if the cat got away and they had to give it a chase again. Trickles of blood trailed down the underside of his hand, from the little holes that the cat had punctured on him. Naruto grimaced at the sight, more out of annoyance than pain, and carelessly wiped the blood away on his jumper. Ino noticed that Naruto's skin was hole-less once the blood was gone but before her curiosity could get hold onto her, Kakashi-sensei had started to walk away, Sasuke and Naruto tailing him.

"Hey, wait for me!"

Sora was mewling pitifully all the way back to the Hokage Tower, and when they handed the cat back to its podgy owner (who squealed and fondled the poor thing like there was no tomorrow), Ino couldn't help but to sympathise the feline. The woman had clasped her heavily jewelled hands around the cat's neck, scarlet-painted lips cooing and crooning general nonsense as the cat went limp from all the rough fondling. Naruto even shared his suspicion that Sora had run away from its owner, instead of the reported getting 'lost'. Ino had to say that she agreed to that and found herself fervently praying that Sora was not plotting yet another 'getting lost' incident anywhere near future. She had enough of cat chasing to last an entire lifetime. Iruka-sensei was nowhere within sight, and Sandaime, who was still there smoking on his pipe, told them that the chuunin was in the office, doing some last minute checking on some old mission folders.

"Ino-pig, what're you doing here?"

The familiar voice made Ino turned on her heels, a smirk plastered on her pretty face. "Forehead Girl, been polishing that big forehead of yours lately? Ooh, what happened to your hair? I thought you're not into green."

Sakura's usually pink locks were dishevelled and damp, with some of the locks dripping green dye-like substance onto the floor. Ino fleetingly thought with a suppressed chuckle that the cleaning crew would be seriously pissed off if the substance turned out to be some kind of a permanent paint or something. There were also red and purple smudges on her reddening cheeks and Chinese-style dress. Shikamaru and Chouji were standing behind the girl, their state almost similar to that of Sakura's. The pony-tailed boy had a lazy scowl on his face and instead of dripping green stuff, he had purple streaks amongst his dark hair. His hands were crossed behind his head. Chouji's white scarf had pink and green blotches on it, while he munched on a meat bun. A bearded large man in jounin uniform was staring morosely at a wet pack of cigarette in his hand.

"Oh shut up," the green-and-pink-haired girl looked like she had more insults to flung towards Ino, when her eyes suddenly took on a glazed look as she stared at someone behind the blonde girl. "Sasuke-kun, how are you?"

The Uchiha crossed his arms but said nothing.

Naruto, whose mouth had widened into an inhumanly large grin at the sight of his crush, bounded energetically towards Sakura. He paused when he took in the green-dripping thing and colourful smudges on Team Ten. "Whoa, what happened to you guys, Sakura-chan?"

"Stupid paintballs," came Sakura's low grumble. She brushed a hand over her spoiled clothes, mumbling and muttering bloody deaths.

"We had to supervise a birthday party," Shikamaru elaborated, his half-lidded eyes narrowed at the thought. Ino was slightly surprised at the reaction, because for all the years she had known Shikamaru, the lazy bum was always infuriatingly laid back and rarely reacted to trivial things. Hell, she had to yell her lungs out just to get him off his ass while they were still in the Academy. "Then some brats thought that it'll be /fun/ to start shooting at 'stupid ninja killjoys and the scary smoke man' with paintballs."

"It hurts too," Chouji supplied in a distressed tone as he brandished a packet of chips out of thin air.

"And I spent almost an hour trying to get the green paint out of my hair," Sakura mourned, running her hair through her suffering hair. "Didn't even get all of it."

Kakashi-sensei was petting the bearded man's shoulder in a friendly way, eye a crescent as he apparently tried to calm the other man down. Ino heard a faint, "— good cigarettes wasted…" and Kakashi-sensei's muffled chuckles that followed the whine. She shook her head, her smirk morphing into a genuine smile when she realized that Sakura was really upset for the state of her beloved pink hair. Tilting her head to a side, Ino casually said, "If you go to Chiaki's shop, she sells this bottle of some shampoo thing that can help you. I've used it once when my dad got some paint onto my head when we were painting the wall. It worked like magic."

"Really?"

"Uh huh."

Sakura impulsively took Ino's hands in hers and smiled gratefully at the surprised girl. "Thank you!" And in two seconds, Sakura blinked in disbelief as she seemed to realize what she was doing and dropped Ino's hands in a flash, blushing deep red. "Uh… I— Ino-pig, I'll get your hair if that doesn't work!"

The blonde girl raised an eyebrow in amusement. "You're welcome, Forehead."

"Ne, Sasuke-kun," Sakura had moved on from her eternal 'rival' in a speed that could easily rival Kakashi-sensei's and was smiling demurely at the Uchiha, hands clasped together over her chest. "Are you free tonight? Maybe we can go out to this new restaurant—"

"I'm busy," snapped the dark-haired boy, much to everyone's surprise.

Naruto interjected eagerly, "Yeah, we're going to have dinner at Ino-chan's place! How cool is that?"

"WHAT?"

Ino was too occupied with laughing and gasping for air at the same time to explain to the dismayed Sakura that it was not actually a date. The pink-haired girl looked like someone had just announced that Sasuke was getting married and the mischievous side of Ino's mind cackled happily at that. Though her initial intention was too make Sakura jealous enough and prompt the girl to do some drastic measures in order to court Sasuke than her 'I'm-a-nice-girl-with-bubblegum-pink-hair-look-at-me-Sasuke-kun' trademark move, Ino couldn't help but to indulge in the effect of Naruto's statement. It was hilarious, to say the least.

Yep, life was definitely good for the blonde genin.

**TBC **

Review or I'll send Ebisu to stalk those who don't.

**Kaara**


	6. Exodus

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

Late update. Had some education-related things to settle. Sorry. Too tired to write more notes. Neko-chan… bed… sleeps… evil counsellors with evil future occupation ideas. Uh, just thought that this is cute and decided to share. Credit goes to **ClassicDrogn** for coming up with it in his/her review.

Gai and Tsunade?

Snerk...

Random character: What could you possibly see in that loud, overenthusiastic, bushy-browed guy?

Tsunade: It's true what you say, but he's got something I really like in a man... The explosive power of youth!

(Tsunade smacks her fist on the desk for emphasis, and smashes it to bits. Other person sweatdrops, while she gets a silly grin and slightly glazed eyes)

Ts: - and that means he's like a bunny, it just keeps going and going and -

Random: I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!

(pervy laugh)

Ts: Heh, maybe he could grow a moustache, too. Super-fuzzy and tickly and -

Random: REALLY! I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW!

CD

Go read fic. Now.

xxx

**Chapter Six: Exodus.**

xxx

"Potatoes… check. Eggs… check," Ino nibbled thoughtfully on her index finger as she stared down at her grocery list. The blonde girl was standing inside an air-conditioned mini market, the handle of a half-full trolley in one hand while another held the piece of paper that was her list. Team Seven had parted after their first successful mission with a loud promise to be in time (Naruto) and an almost disgruntled snort that signalled reluctant agreement (Sasuke). Kakashi-sensei was gone the second after they walked out of the tower, with a reminder for yet another meeting the next morning. Ino had whistled happily home, planning for a warm bubble bath and maybe some homemade strawberry ice cream that she had left inside the freezer, only to have the grocery list slapped onto her face and her mother all-too-happily ushering her out of the house towards the general direction of the market before she could even voice out a single protest. Pocketing her list, Ino looked down at the assorted pile of colourful veggies inside her basket and smiled wistfully. "Now to find chicken for the soup."

Checking over some red apples and wondering if her mother would make an apple pie for dessert if she asked, two distinctive voices that floated somewhere from the other side of the aisle caught Ino's attention, one of them being disturbingly familiar. Ino was about to dismiss them and walk away when she overheard some snippets of the conversation.

"— serves that bitch right. Too bad Sasuke-kun is in the same team as those losers, ne, Kari?"

A more timid, uncertain voice piped up in response. "You might want to be careful, Ami. Who knows if Ino might be around here now? I think I saw her when I waited for you."

"Feh, you worry too much! I'm not afraid of that bitch, you hear me? I could've kicked her sorry ass—"

By that time, Ino was quite certain that she had heard enough and decided to make her existence known. Stepping to the other side to reveal herself to the two speakers, the blonde girl was viciously pleased when a short, redheaded girl with her headband tied around her left upper arm (must be the timid Kari she heard protesting) turned deathly pale in a flash. The redhead's lower lip quivered as Ino glared her best 'you-better-shut-the-fuck-up-or-else' glare, not wanting to alert the still blabbering Ami (who had her back at Ino) of her presence. Ino noted that it was somewhat amusing to hear someone insulting her right at her face. Okay, so technically Ami wasn't really spitting all those god-awful things to her face but it was still amusing nonetheless. No one had the gall to do that lately. The Kari girl had started quivering on her feet, looking close to tears and Ino felt a brush of pity for the short girl; at least the girl wasn't the one who did the insulting.

"You know, Ami," Ino finally drawled out, in a lazily threatening voice she had so aptly copied from Kakashi-sensei as she leaned to the fresh fruits section. "For someone who boasted about kicking my 'sorry ass', it's really pathetic that you couldn't even say it to my face."

Ami literally froze at the first syllable from Ino.

Tilting her head to stare at the redheaded girl, Ino said, "Kari, isn't it?"

"Y… Yes, Ino-san?"

"Why don't you go and buy, say, an ice cream cone or something? Ami and I have something to talk about."

Her reputation as the most terrifying/loud/bitchy girl in Academy could be sooo handy at times.

Ino smirked for good measure.

"Yes, Ino-san," the redheaded girl squeaked under the smirk, perhaps imagining the many, many things that Ino could've done to her least she denied the order. Kari gave the frozen Ami a terrified bow and all but scuttled out of the soon-to-be battlefield. She disappeared without a second glance behind a large-bellied man who was ogling at some huge chunks of something-meat.

Several seconds lapsed in silence as Ino glared at Ami's back, waiting with her fingers drummed on the metal surface of the aisle besides her. Ino was about to bark some selected crude remarks when Ami slowly turned around, her small eyes narrowed in obvious dislike at the blonde. Sniffing arrogantly (well, as arrogantly as someone who had her knees shaking, Ino scoffed with a mental sneer), she said, "I have nothing to say to you, Yamanaka."

"Seems to me you've got /many/ things to say /about/ me instead," Ino snapped, her blue eyes narrowed in challenge at the other girls. They had fairly clashed the first time they laid eyes on each other, two opposite individuals with different ideals and similar stubbornness, surrounded by their own layers of friends and social status. The incident with Sakura in their early Academy days only worked to further fuel the building hatred between them. "What, afraid to say 'em when your groupie's not around kissing your ass?"

"I'm NOT afraid of YOU!" Ami hissed venomously, though the little, barely noticeable quiver in her voice didn't escape Ino's shrewd observation. It was just her luck (and a bad one for Ami) that there was currently no one around the aisle. It wouldn't do her reputation any good if she got labelled as a bully and Leaf's know what her parents would do if they heard about this. Ami placed her hands on her hip, lips twisted into an ugly sneer. "So tell me, how's /Uzumaki/ doing?"

Ino arched an eyebrow, an intense surge of loathing coursing inside her veins at the way Ami pronounced the emphasis on the name. After getting teamed up with Naruto, Ino had began to notice the many subtle glances of either disgust or hatred that the blond boy received everytime they went around the village. Naruto said nothing about it, but the girl was ready to bet one-year allowance that he noticed those glances as well. Part of her chalked it up to Naruto's earlier days' outrageous pranks (like vandalising the Hokage Monument with paints), though another part (her swelled curiosity) insisted that it was because of some uber secret reason that she knew nothing about. It was therefore with some surprise that Ino found herself with an obligation (only brought upon her by herself; she seemed to be getting into a load of shit lately) to justify the villagers' action by being Naruto's friend and trying to get to know him better than just a loudmouthed orange human cannonball that sucked in ramen like it was oxygen. Hell, no one screwed around with her friends!

… Er, maybe that's the compulsive side of her personality talking.

She took a step forward, radiating evilness and it was with some satisfaction that Ino noticed Ami taking two steps back. "What's Naruto had to do with this?"

"Losers flock together, right?" sputtered the girl, barely-concealed fear flashing through her eyes as she took another step back, clutching at the metal railing of the frozen section to stop the trembling of her hands. "I heard he took three tries to pass the Genin Exam. Must be one stupi—"

"And what's that have to do with anything?" Ino interjected coolly, a growl rumbling low in her throat. 'Who gives a damn if Naruto failed three Genin Exams? He passed in the end, didn't he? WITHOUT giving up,' Ino thought rather vindictively, images of squishing a miniscule version of Ami under the soles of her ninja sandal suddenly became too appealing to ignore. 'And those Kage Bunshins of him kicks serious ass. And he could probably outclass everyone in Konoha in a ramen-eating contest. And he was certainly the most stubborn, flashy and annoying genin ever graduated from the Academy. And… and…' Ino blinked out of her short reverie and wisely cut her mental ranting short before she did something drastic that she would later regret (like jutsu-ing herself into Ami and undressed the girl in the middle of the market out of sheer spite). Her knuckles were turning white from the firm grip she had on her trolley, wordlessly challenging the other girl to say something /anything/ bad about Naruto just so that she would have an excuse to stuff the carrots into Ami's overlarge mouth.

The flowers didn't seem to work back then.

"Sasuke-kun must be /devastated/ to have—"

Ino's smirk turned downright malicious. "Last time I checked, he was actually /very/ impressed with Naruto's jutsu." Strike one. "Even said to me that he thinks Naruto is more useful than most of this year's genins." Strike two. "Especially his drooling /useless/ fangirls." Strike three. Yer OUT!

Okay, so that was not technically true. But she did saw Sasuke's eyebrow twitching sporadically from her hiding place when Naruto first performed Kage Bunshin no Jutsu in Kakashi-sensei's pseudo-test, which she took as a sign of being impressed from the usually emotionless and twitch-less Uchiha. She had spent the better part of her life watching Sasuke (even if it was for the sake of other; the sacrifices she made for Sakura!) and had come to several conclusions regarding the little gestures that the dark-haired boy was prone to do when he felt things. Like twitching when he was impressed (he twitched whenever Iruka-sensei demonstrated deadly accuracy in kunai training or teaching them how to kill more effectively) and grunting a little less than usual when he was happy (usually after blowing up some unfortunate practice dolls with Katon jutsus or polishing his kunai collection in class with this weird gleam in his eyes).

… That one teammate of hers sure as hell was messed up…

But that was beside the point. And Sasuke did say something along the lines of, "Hn, you're at least good for something," sometime… somewhere when the three of them were together. Probably after he finished mutilating one defenceless tree with his kunai and shuriken (read: he was in a good mood). And heck, that was as good as any grand, elaborated compliment from other normal people. Though manipulating the Uchiha's rare words was not really the most noble or honourable things to do (not that she give a damn about that sort of things anyway), it was deemed necessary in such situation. To crush the ridiculously bloated ego of one Ami. For Naruto's sake, of course, and not for her own, morbid pleasure. Nope, not at all. Satisfied that she had successfully convinced herself that she was doing the right thing, Ino's malicious smirk widened at the look of pure disbelief on the other girl's ashen face.

Rolling the trolley away from the stunned girl, Ino tossed her head back and carelessly remarked, "Make sure I'm nowhere near you when you decided to badmouth Naruto. You might not be this lucky next time; it won't do to spoil perfectly good carrots just to shut you up."

With a jaunty wave, Ino strolled off, humming happily to 'Gotta Kill 'Em All'.

After picking up other items in her list and also some that were not (the salesgirls were staring funnily at Ino when she paid for them, mostly because she was gleefully giggling under her breath), Ino breezed out of the market with two large bags of groceries in her hands and a gigantic grin on her face. Ami was gone when she passed through the frozen food section and Ino suspected (with a chuckle) that the girl must've fled the scene to mope around with her groupie. Hopefully Kari had enough sense to not join them; it would be such a pity if Ami corrupted another innocent soul to do her bidding. Ino stopped to buy several sticks of her mother's favourite dango from a stall near the market and briefly contemplated of using them to bribe Saeki into making some onigiri for the dinner. Inoshi was rather fond of her mother's onigiri, after all. It was after a couple of steps towards her house that the blonde girl eventually slowed down, taking shorter strides than the long ones she was used to and stared thoughtfully ahead.

'It must be painful,' she mused uncomfortably as she balanced the weight of her groceries and the small bag that held her dango. 'To be alone for that long. I have Mom and Dad but those two… Wonder how Naruto and Sasuke feel 'bout going back to an empty home everyday. Doesn't it hurt? Naruto had Iruka-sensei… and me. I don't think Sasuke has any friend,' Ino snorted at the thought; the prospect of the silent Uchiha offering his friendship to anyone was as farfetched as Kakashi-sensei giving up on Icha Icha. Which was infallibly never. 'Well then, I'll be his friend! Both of them! See if they can shake me off even if they want to. I hope Naruto likes chicken soup—'

Ino was jolted roughly to reality when she bumped into someone.

"Oi, watch where you're going, dumbass!" Cursing ever so colourfully, the blonde girl staggered back, shaking her head and tightened her grip on the grocery bags that were threatening to topple forward from the unexpected collision. She squinted on eye open and her scowl immediately evaporated into a grin. "Oh, it's you."

Hyuuga Hinata coloured at Ino's recognition and dipped her head low. "I'm s—sorry, Ino-san. I was too absorbed in thin—thinking and didn't see you there."

"Never mind; it's my fault too. Shoulda watch where I'm going, ne?" Ino chuckled good-naturedly and her grin turned mischievous. "What're you thinking about anyway, Hinata-chan? It must be so important that you forgot to look around."

The blush on Hinata's cheeks deepened. "It's no—nothing, Ino-san. Just—"

"It was /boys, wasn't it?" the red was positively creeping into the Hyuuga's pale eyes at the random guess and Ino grinned in triumph. Call it a sixth sense if you must! Being her bossy self (gossips are too heavenly tempting sometimes!), the blonde girl gave Hinata's rib a soft nudge and winked conspiratorially at the blushing girl. "So tell me, who is this lucky guy?"

"I— I don't—"

"Is it Kiba?"

A horrified shake of head. "No! I—"

"Yeah, he's too brash and stupid for you. Um, Shino?"

The 'horrified head shake' increased a level or two. "Ino-san, please—"

"The 'silent and mysterious' type out then. There goes Sasuke. Don't understand why other girls dig that; they can be /so/ annoying, ya know? … I don't suppose you like fat guys, do you?"

"I don't—"

"Phew, not Chouji then. You'll be frustrated anyway; he's already in love with food. Oh ho, is it Shika—"

"It's Naruto!"

Ino blinked, and unknowingly gawked at Hinata, who was blushing so hard that she looked like she was going to get dehydrated from all the heat. "Naruto?"

Shuffling nervously on her feet, Hinata nodded, index fingers pressed together. A little hesitant and a lot embarrassed, the girl tilted her head up slightly and murmured, "Ino-san is in the same team as Naruto-kun, right?"

"Eh?" blinking a few times to clear the fog that was currently misting her brain, Ino awkwardly tried to scratch the bridge of her nose, only to realize that she had to use both hands to hold her groceries and dango bags. Deprived of that option, Ino ended up grinning crookedly at Hinata. "Uh, yeah, yeah he is." Curiosity (and astonishingly /suspicion/) kicked into full motion. "Why?"

"I— Naruto-kun—" there was a desperate edge in Hinata's voice, as she looked everywhere but at Ino. She settled on shuffling nervously again, apparently trying to think up an appropriate answer, which was not really a good idea as that made the blonde girl more curious and suspicious than ever. Ino was about to spew out another question when Hinata hurriedly ducked her head and said, "I have to go. Kurenai-sensei is waiting for me. See— see you later, Ino-san."

And the Hyuuga was gone in a blink of an eye.

Ino mentally cursed; she had been blinking too much today.

With a last glance at the direction that Hinata had disappeared to, Ino heaved a sigh of frustration and trotted back towards her house with more than a little mental burden from the brief encounter. She was /this/ (insert little space between almost pinching fingers) close to pry open the secret, whatever it was. Ino did know that Hinata was not really the brightest bulb around if it somehow involved feelings and general communication but really, the pale-eyed girl had just became ridiculously incoherent. And Ino was just asking about Naruto, for Leaf's sake! Why would Hinata…

Wait.

Ino stood petrified in the middle of the road, chewing on her bottom lip.

Hinata said that she was thinking about Naruto. Which was unusual.

And she blushed. Redder than usual. Like, red /red/. Unusual too.

Because Ino caught her thinking about Naruto. /Very/ unusual.

Hinata plus Naruto plus insane blushing equals to…?

The realization smacked Ino right at her face.

Her eyes widened in horror.

HINATA had a CRUSH on NARUTO.

Whoa, too much information!

Gathering her thought (and wits), which had self-destruct and was scattered everywhere in her mind, Ino inhaled deeply. Exhaled. Inhaled. As the cogs and wheels inside her head started to grind away, processing and dissecting each intake of the exchange that took place earlier carefully, Ino had willed her suddenly heavy legs to continue walking. The ground didn't feel as solid as it should be under her feet anymore; the blonde girl felt like she was walking on a bumpy cloud that kept spinning around and around in a dizzyingly high speed. Ino swallowed, annoyed when she found that her throat was somewhat dry and parched.

So, so… Hinata liked Naruto. Did Naruto like Hinata too? Ino shook her head, her lips curling into a humourless grin. No, Naruto's too dumb to recognise deep affection from the Hyuuga even if it was dancing naked in front of him wearing Kakashi-sensei's face mask. And Hinata's too shy to confess her feeling to the boy. Which was good. No, NO. It was BAD, because Hinata should tell Naruto if she likes him so much. But would Naruto like Hinata back if she told him that… that? Ino's eyes hardened at the thought and she impulsively kicked a pebble out of her way, oblivious of its clatter against someone's wall. She just needed to kick something at that time. Not necessarily but he might. Naruto might be too lonely and just, like… /stupidly/ convinced himself that he likes Hinata too. When he really doesn't. Shouldn't. Okay, that definitely didn't sound right. It was like she had gone all possessive on the blond boy or something.

Ino chuckled dryly, only to stop seconds after she had begun.

… Was she?

"Of course not," Ino whispered, kicking off her sandals at the back door of her house, ambling inside with her arms wrapped around the bags. She headed straight towards the kitchen, relieving her aching arms from the weight and grinned at her mother, who was rinsing her hands in the sink. Waving the dango bag at Saeki, Ino cheerfully said, "Got you some dango."

She had to stop thinking for now. Maybe later.

Yeah, later. Much, much later.

Saeki turned off the faucet, leaning against the tiled counter and regarded her daughter with a small smile as she wiped her hands dry. "And what are you planning to do with those?"

"Let see…" Ino tapped her chin with her finger, staring in mock thoughtfulness at the small bag of dango. "How 'bout I trade these with your infamous onigiri? Sounds fair?"

"Your father really spoils you," chastised the dark-haired woman, sighing. She leaned forward and tried to reach for the dango, only to have Ino impishly dancing out of the way. "Fine, I'll make the onigiri. Give them over already."

"Sheesh, Mom. I swear you got cranky everytime dango is concerned. Be careful or Dad might get jealous," the blonde girl fibbed, taking one stick for herself and tossed the bag to the outstretched hand of her mother. Sinking her teeth into the sweet treat, Ino jerked her chin towards the general direction of the groceries and mumbled, "I bought some natto and crackers. Chouji polished them off the last time he came around. Hope you don't mind."

Her mother was too engrossed with her dango to provide a reply.

Preparing dinner proved to be a mixed blessing when it helped kept unwanted 'things' from Ino's mind for the entire evening, as the girl chattered happily over dicing the carrots and butchering her chicken. The latter was a real mess and by the end of the task, Ino's chicken was no more than unidentifiable chunks of… well, chunks. Cooking was not really her strong point but Ino enjoyed the occasional chances where she would spend quality time smearing some slimy concoction (that most of the times appeared out of thin air) on Saeki's face and was rewarded with jovial laughter instead of enraged shrieks. Saeki was also content enough to agree to teach Ino how to make onigiri when the girl was not, to quote her mother, 'running around, saving Konoha from evil ninjas'. When she finally left her soup to simmer slowly on low flames, Ino wiped her sweaty brow and tilted her head at her mother.

"I'm going up for a shower," the blonde girl announced, untying the soiled apron from her lithe form. She glanced at the clock; ten minutes after seven. Dropping the apron into a laundry basket, Ino paused at the base of the stairs when she remembered something. Or more accurately, someone. "Uh, Mom, I forgot to tell you that I invited Iruka-sensei too. He'll be here with Naruto."

Maybe it was a trick of the light but for a split second, Ino could see the colour on her mother's face drained like someone had sucked the blood away using an invisible syringe. Though Saeki looked absolutely fine when she waved a hand and said, "I'll set the table for six, then. Your father told me that he'll be a bit late, but he'll be here at around nine. You go take your shower and wear something decent."

"Mom," Ino pouted, already starting to descend the stairs. "I'm always decent."

"Of course, dear."

Something told Ino that her mother was just humouring her.

Her shower was a cold and quick one; Ino couldn't afford to enjoy the luxury of a long, warm bubble bath with just fifty minutes to spare. Not only that she had yet to pick up an outfit (something /decent/), she also needed some time to tame her hair (do you think it was easy to manage long hair? Huh? Huh?) and apply the cursory lines of makeup onto her face (mascara is obligatory!). A glance at her alarm clock decreased the remaining minutes to a severe thirty-two minutes to the promised eight. Towelling her hair dry with a hand, Ino rummaged inside her closet for a long-sleeved purple T-shirt that she remembered buying sometime last month (or was it last year?). She had already found a pair of black slacks to match the shirt; now, if only she could find the damn thing! Flinging the damp towel aside, Ino groped blindly for a hairbrush on the table, knocking over a vial of perfume in the process. Almost nauseating 'Thousand Roses' scent instantly filled her room.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit!"

Ino abandoned her closet to sprang into the bathroom and snatched a small towel, darting to the spreading pool of pale pink liquid in a flash and swiftly cleaned the mess. She picked up the fallen vial, chucking it into the trashcan besides her bedside table and grabbed her hairbrush. Brushing a hand over her wrinkled slacks, Ino ran the hairbrush almost frantically through her hair and kneeled in front of her closet once again in search for the missing shirt. It was with some difficulty and a cart of curses that the blonde girl finally found said shirt inside a jammed drawer. She had to resort in using a kunai as a substitute for a crowbar to force open the stubborn drawer. Splinters of wood strewn unceremoniously on the floor, Ino slipped the shirt on and stood appraisingly before the mirror. The T-shirt was appropriately plain, except for the crest of Konoha stitched in lighter purple at the back. Ino twisted her hair back into a loose bun, allowing several strands to escape the bun to give it a more elegant look. She folded the sleeves of her shirt to make it reach just below her elbows and began putting on her earrings just as her mother's voice rang from below.

"Ino, your guests are here!"

Crap.

Where's the frickin' mascara?

**TBC**

(shakes fists tiredly) Review or… or… (snores)

**Kaara**


	7. Staccato

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

Meh…

To **Keltosh**-san, I chose my chapters' titles based on my moods. And sometimes when I found some words in the dictionary (yes, I'm a dictionary dork) that I took liking to. Therefore, the titles usually don't have anything to do with the chapters themselves (like **Exodus**, for an example). Hehehe, they're pretty much random. I'm a bad excuse of an authoress, no?

And school had already started, so updates will be scarcer than now. Maybe once a week, or two. Had just gone through orientation (the sole reason why this chapter took so long to finish) and is currently thinking that written examinations' importance is /seriously/ overrated.

This is the longest chapter yet.

Enjoy. Or not. Whichever.

xxx

**Chapter Seven: Staccato.**

xxx

Pulling on a clean sock on one foot while hopping around on another was not a very dignified situation that a girl could possibly hoped to be found in, which Ino had the misfortune to experience first hand. It also brought several unpleasant incident-prone possibilities into Ino's mind that would've proven to be too much of a hassle to handle at that particular time; nursing a broken (and swelling) nose in front of her teammates and ex-sensei /was not/ a welcoming thought. At all. The overwhelming odour of the spilled vial of perfume was starting to nauseate the blonde, and Ino was forced to pause from her current dilemma (searching for the missing pair of her sock) to flung open the windows of her bedroom, allowing fresh night breezes to circulate inside the small room. The girl heaved a sigh of relief once the strong roses scent started dissipating into cool air, before realizing that she only had one foot warmly socked and her right toes were wriggling happily on the cool floor.

Dammit.

The other sock turned up amongst her kunai collection, though why or how it ended up in there was a mystery to the blonde. She didn't remember stashing any part of her clothing with weaponry. Ino almost tripped on the edge of her bed as she rushed over to the mirror from her closet (nimbly dodging pieces of wood that would demand one hell of an excuse once her mother saw the mess), checking over her reflection for the last time. The girl impatiently rearranged the loose locks of her pale golden hair, tucking them behind her ears and tugging experimentally at her dark purple shirt. She smiled at the soft, cottony fabric of the shirt under her fingers. She knew that the shirt was a good bargain, though that one salesgirl was a total bitch when it comes to professional conduct. Inhaling deeply, Ino bolted out of her room and trudged downstairs, trying to keep her expression neutral and attempting to look oblivious to the fact that she was a tardy host. She could always blame her dysfunctional watch for that.

"INO-CHAN!"

Or maybe not…

Naruto was wearing a short-sleeved light orange shirt, with two vertical black stripes that ran down from both shoulder lines and a red spiral dominating the front centre of the shirt. His knee-length shorts were of a darker shade of orange and there were splatters of half-dried mud dotting its hem. He was not wearing his Konoha forehead protector for once and allowed his bright yellow spikes to fall messily over his forehead. Naruto had his trademark squinty-eyed, foxy grin plastered on his face as he greeted Ino at the hallway, literally bouncing from exuberance. The blonde girl suspected that if it weren't for one of Iruka-sensei's hands that were rested on Naruto's shoulder, the boy would've shot through the roof in his barely-contained excitement. Ino couldn't help but to grin back, her tense muscles relaxing ever so slightly at the sight of Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto," she turned to grin at the brown-haired chuunin behind her teammate. "Iruka-sensei, glad you can make it."

The Academy teacher had donned a simple light blue kimono with intricate wave patterns stitched onto the fabric by luminous silver thread and was handing over his black haori to a smiling Saeki. Ino noticed that her smile was kind of strained (she couldn't really tell; Saeki was one of those people that was not easy to read even if you've lived with her for practically forever) and that she kept shooting wary, almost-discrete glances at Naruto. Ino was pretty much beginning to feel unreasonably annoyed when Iruka-sensei flashed one of his incredibly warm smiles at her and said, "I can't possibly decline your invitation, Ino. Naruto would've dragged me all the way here if I did."

"Senseeeiii," said boy whined through the red stain that was spreading across his tanned cheeks, pouting huffily at his treacherous teacher.

Ino snickered softly and smirked. "I knew that that bottomless pit you call stomach couldn't resist the 'free meal' temptation, whisker-face." As she playfully punched the blond boy's belly (who dodged and stuck out his tongue at Ino), she finally realized that someone was missing. Tilting her head to scrutinise the otherwise empty hallway, she asked, "Is Sasuke late? I thought he'd be here by now."

"He's outside," Naruto retorted with a snort. "I bet that sullen bastard's waiting for someone to personally remove his shoes for him or something."

Iruka-sensei bopped the back of Naruto's head rather painfully, offering an apologizing half-smile at Saeki and Ino. Ignoring the boy's muffled indignant outburst, the chuunin said, "Maybe he's just feeling shy. It must've been a while since he was last invited over for a dinner. Though I was actually very surprised as how you succeeded to convince him to come, Ino. Sasuke-kun had always been… /averse/ to socialising before."

"That's my secret," she tossed her head back in mock arrogance, winking at Naruto and took a step towards the door. "I'll go get him. Give me a minute, okay?"

"Let me show you the kitchen," Saeki prompted, smiling graciously at her daughter's guests. She was wearing a kimono herself, pastel yellow in colour and was plain except for occasional pink cherry blossoms petals. "I've brewed a pot of tea and the dealer told me that this month's harvest is exceptional."

"Of course," agreed Iruka-sensei, already walking after the dark-haired woman. He halted to a stop when he saw that Naruto was hesitating. "Well, aren't you coming?"

The blond boy grinned awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "I think I'll go with Ino-chan and help her drag Sasuke-bastard inside if he's being the usual ass. Can I?"

The chuunin's face broke into a wide smile. "Sure. I'll accompany Yamanaka-san until you two fetch Sasuke-kun."

"Oh, come on already," interjected Ino, swinging the door open. "Sasuke's going to freeze his butt outside there if we don't hurry."

"It's not /that/ cold," Naruto rebutted. "'Sides, I'm sure /he/ is colder than anything that the weather can dish out."

That earned him a smack from Ino.

"Stop hitting me, will you?" grumbled the genin, rubbing his abused head. "I'm gonna hold you responsible if I'm shorter than other people by the end of this year."

Ino chuckled and flippantly pointed out, "I think it's the ramen that made you short, idiot. You should eat a more balanced diet instead of gorging down noodles soaked in hot water everyday."

"I'll let you know that I drink milk too. A lot," huffed Naruto in defence, already stepping outside to join Ino. He shivered slightly as a cold draught shook nearby bushes, wrapping his arms around his small frame. "And I hate all that /healthy/ stuff. They taste funny."

"The only thing that's funny around here is your non-existent brain, dead last."

Sasuke was standing near the picket fence that surrounded a small patch of land, staring down at a cluster of red-and-purple blossoms with his hands shoved inside the pockets of his white shorts. He was wearing another one of those high-collared shirts that he seemed fond of, only that this one was black instead of the usual dark blue. The dark-haired boy had also ditched his forehead protector and that thing he wore on his arms, though it did little to change his overall appearance. His face was impassive, and he didn't even bother to look up from the flowers when he had first spoken out. Ino scowled as she had to physically restraint Naruto from jumping the Uchiha then and there. They would /never/ learn to tolerate each other if they continued on like this!

"What're you doing here?" the blonde girl growled, tightening her hold on Naruto's shoulder. "Everyone's waiting for you."

"Hn. I was just thinking… why did you asked me to come."

Ino sighed, exasperated. If there's one thing that the girl couldn't understand about Sasuke, it was the way the Uchiha's brain (over)worked. It was as if the boy was hell-bent on making even the simplest thing complicated solely for the sake of complication itself. And fulfilling his daily demand of angsting. "I invited you over to eat, not to think. What's the point of standing there, glaring at my flowers and brood about really stupid stuff? Are you retarded?"

Sasuke had the grace to look offended at that.

"We're wasting precious time here! There's FOOD inside!" Naruto angrily cut in, face scrunched up in annoyance. He had stopped struggling and had crossed his arms against his chest. "/You/ might not appreciate good food, but /I/ do! And I'm HUNGRY!"

The dark-haired boy opened his mouth, most probably to deliver a scathing remark at Naruto but Ino beat him to it. "Don't you /dare/ snap at Naruto again!" She stomped towards Sasuke, stopping only when they were one foot away from each other. Her eyes were blazing with suppressed fury, fingers balled into tight fists and fingernails digging into the flesh of her palms. Honestly, boys could be /so/ stupid sometimes! And to think that she had gone to this extent just so that they could spend one measly dinner in PEACE! "You want to know why I asked you to come? FINE. I'll tell you! I wanted to be your friend. I don't give a damn if you're a survivor of whatever-massacre," she inwardly winced when Sasuke's face stiffened but continued on nonetheless, her voice softening as the anger slowly ebbed away, "I just… wanted /us/ to be /more/ than teammates. You, Naruto and me. You know, friends."

"… I don't need friends," Sasuke snapped, his eyes narrowed.

The blonde girl's glare intensified into Glacial Level in record time. "/Everyone/ need friends at some point of their lives."

"Friends are for the weak," the Uchiha retaliated snootily and raised a slim eyebrow. As if he was challenging Ino to a duel of philosophy and words.

Which was something that he /should not/ attempt under /any/ situation.

"Oh? And why is that?" Ino had placed her hands on her hip, blue eyes flickering with cold wrath. Anyone who remotely knew anything about Ino would realize that the protected stance was the prelude of the infamous Pissed Off Ino and would have fled towards the hills for their dear lives. Oh yes, Uchiha Sasuke was going to pay. No one, and she meant, NO ONE could tell her (or imply; as it was quite an indirect accusation from the boy) that Yamanaka Ino was /weak/ and lived to tell the story. Sasuke would pay, all right.

Insert diabolical maniac laughter here.

"Friends will only hold you down," Sasuke smoothly replied, quirking another eyebrow to join the first one and smirked. Ino snickered inwardly when she thought that the dark-haired boy was being awfully /conversational/ that night. Maybe she could provoke him more in the future to get Sasuke to open up to them. That is, after she's done kicking some sense and respect (to her) into him. And after he stopped yakking (uncharacteristically) away. "They demand attention, protection if they're weaker than you. And expect you to always look up to them if they're stronger."

Ino felt like laughing, so she did. Though it came out rather distorted because she was trying not to laugh at the same time. Sasuke was /definitely/ more screwed than she originally thought he was. She was having a hard time deciding whether to blame it on the boy's possibly unbalanced hormones or his bloody past. Or if someone had drugged the boy senseless. "Don't tell me that you're suffering from some kind of a superiority complex /Uchiha-kun/. It's not healthy for proper mental development," her tone was snide and sarcastic, eliciting a dark frown from the Uchiha. "And I do think you definition for 'friend' was wrong; partly because you're an arrogant jerk and partly because you're a delusional dimwit."

The anger was obvious on Sasuke's face. Apparently, 'arrogant jerk' and 'delusional dimwit' didn't sit well with the boy. "What the he—"

"I'm not done yet," Ino interrupted sharply, waving a hand at the boy. The corner of her lips curled into a satisfied smirk as she watched Sasuke stewed silently in his rage. It was about time that someone slapped reality to the Uchiha's face; he was too pampered with all the 'young prodigy and Uchiha survivor' crap for his own good. "You're an arrogant jerk because you can't stand knowing that there's someone better than you out there, for whatever goddamn egotistical reason that I don't want to know about. And you're obviously delusional enough to mistake Naruto and me for your stupid fangirls. We don't need you to protect us like some damsel in distress, dammit! Friends protect /each other/. We've got your ass covered if you somehow decided to plunge headlong into shit trouble, and it'd be great to know if you'd do the same for us."

"I don't need anyone saving me /or/ my ass."

As always, Sasuke managed to /fabulously/ missed the main point and somehow took her little speech as an insult to his profound masculinity and ability to pull his own fat out of the fire. It was staggering, actually, the level of plain idiocy and ignorance that Sasuke could pull off sometimes, considering how he was worshipped as a frickin' genius by more than half of the Academy (and possibly Konoha too) population. The only thing that must've been bigger than his ego was probably the whole continent itself. She warily eyed the glaring Uchiha, mentally calculating how long she could calmly speak to him before she resorted to yelling her lungs out and started hurling insults and solid objects at the boy. After a moment of various equations, subtractions and quadrupling everything into massive proportion of unintelligible numbers in the end, Ino abandoned the mental calculus as the thing failed to make sense to her anti-calculus (therefore, average and normal) mind.

It seemed more of a Shikamaru thing to do, anyway.

"Like I said, I only invited you here to eat," Ino continued, her voice adopting a cajoling softness that contrasted greatly to her earlier merciless harpooning on Sasuke's deficiency to work as a standard human. Ino made a mental note to stop switching from being friendly to murderous to friendly again too often. People might think that she had serious psychological problem. "I want us to be friends, comrade-in-arms, whatever. I don't care, as long as you treat us as your equals and not something that cling like a fungus on you."

"…"

Sasuke looked away, glaring stubbornly at a budding flower instead.

Ino was getting very, very tired to the silent treatment.

And already well beyond pissed off. But that's another matter altogether.

Why did she even bother in the first place?

"You know what, forget it," she shook her head in resignation, turned on her heels and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. "You can go home if you want to. I'll tell Iruka-sensei and Mom that you've got a… a headache or something."

A firm hand that clamped down onto her shoulder made Ino look up.

Naruto was staring at her, a grim expression clouding his usually annoyingly cheerful face. She had quite conveniently forgot that he was there when she talked/yelled at Sasuke but at that time, Naruto didn't look too upset after being ignored by his two bickering (99 percentIno and 1 percent Sasuke) teammates. There was something different about the way he stared at the blonde girl that made her shiver, despite the absence of cold wind. He gave Ino a tight smile, before unexpectedly narrowed his eyes at the stoic Sasuke and growled through gritted teeth, "I'll /really/ kill you if you walk away now."

"Naruto—"

"Ino-chan only wants what's best for the team, bastard."

Sasuke tilted his head up and sneered at the blond. "I /know/ what's best for myself/dead last/."

"You shit-eating bastard—!"

For the second time that night alone, Ino had to pull Naruto back, who had his fist clenched and aimed at Sasuke. It was easier said than done, seeing that Naruto was stronger than her and his anger only served to feed that abominable strength of his. "Naruto, stop it!" The struggle ceased immediately, albeit reluctantly. She panted from the effort to stop the boy, wiping the fine sheet of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Ino scowled at Sasuke, before staring at the sulking Naruto in front of her. "Let's go inside. Iruka-sensei's going to get worried if we take too much time out here."

"But Sasuke-bastard—"

"Let him go," she shot the Uchiha a weary glance and started walking towards the back door. Naruto scrambled on his feet and caught up with the girl, just as Ino spun on her heels and said, "Sasuke, I'm sorry I forced you to come. I won't tell anyone about that you-know-what," she paused to chuckle sardonically. "If that's what you're worried about."

The dark-haired boy tensed, though he eventually turned and stalked away into the devouring darkness. Naruto grumbled as he watched the disappearing figure and asked, "What was /that/ all about?"

Ino smirked and tossed her head back, opening the door. "None of your business, urchin head."

She had never known that arguing with Naruto could be so blissfully distracting.

"Where's Sasuke-kun?" questioned Iruka-sensei, when the two had quarrelled their way into the kitchen. The chuunin was nursing a cup of lukewarm tea and was in the middle of a pleasant conversation about the properties of various plants with a delighted Saeki when Naruto and Ino barged in, Ino's index finger prodding Naruto's chest as she persisted on the base of her argument. Which involves the blond boy, a green goat and a pink-spotted sparrow.

Don't ask.

Ino shrugged and claimed a seat besides her mother. "He got a headache or something. Said he's sorry," she was interrupted by Naruto's snort and spared a withering glare at the blond. Naruto winced and looked guiltily away. "So I told him to go home."

"Poor boy. I hope he's okay," Saeki poured the tea into two clean cups and placed them in front of the two genins. She paused slightly as she stared at Naruto, an indiscernible expression on her face. An awkward smile tugged at Saeki's lips when Naruto thanked her and greedily gulped down the tea as she slinked back to her chair. Her eyes never left Naruto's cheerful face for quite some time, until the boy cocked his head and grinned widely at her.

"Your tea is very nice!" Naruto said, nodding enthusiastically. "It's not too bitter, like Iruka-sensei's," the chuunin sensei smiled good-humouredly at the reference. "But not too sweet."

Saeki inclined her head and replied, eyes softening, "Thank you. I'm glad you like it."

"Can we eat now?" Ino chimed in, her cup drained empty. "I could hear Naruto's stomach grumbling from here."

"Hey, my stomach was /not/ grumbling!" protested the boy hotly, over his tenth cup of tea. His cheeks reddened when his stomach /did/ grumble a second after that and he glared accusingly at Ino, who was laughing heartily at his predicament. Naruto pouted and turned to Iruka-sensei for support, only to find that the tanned chuunin was also laughing behind his hand. Saeki was chuckling softly to herself. "No fair! You're all ganging up against me!"

Ino uncovered her bowl of rice, clapped once and announced, "Let's eat!"

Naruto automatically shut up at that.

Picking up a slice of stir-fried eggplant, Ino transferred it into Naruto's bowl and grinned at the chagrined boy. "Vegetable. Eat."

"But I don't like eggplant!" complained Naruto, prodding the offending morsel with his chopsticks as if it would jumped to life and strangle him for the insult. He stared longingly at the plate of onigiri and made a sour face as he finally succumbed under Ino's death glare. Chewing slowly, the blond asked, "Where's your… uh, father?"

"Dad? He's out doing a mission for the Hokage, I guess. He'll come home later."

Naruto stopped chewing and whistled appreciatively. "Your father's a ninja too?"

"Yep, he's a jounin. He's really good, and cool. But I promised him that I'm going to be stronger than him. That's why I wanna be a ninja too."

Saeki suddenly placed down her pair of chopsticks and rested her hands on her lap, staring sombrely at Naruto. There was an appraising look in her eyes, like she was trying to judge the boy using her own standard. Iruka-sensei noticed the look, though he remained silent and opted to wait for the dark-haired woman's action. The chuunin shifted uneasily on his seat, sipping his soup in silence and tried to remain oblivious of Saeki's rigid and unrelenting posture. Naruto was too busy fending off Ino from placing more fried vegetables into his bowl to notice it and was caught by surprise when Saeki asked, "Where are your parents, Naruto-kun?"

Ino gaped at her mother, before looking back at Naruto. The blond boy had frozen in mid-chew, his fingers unconsciously pressing the two slim wooden sticks tightly together. Swallowing the remnant of chicken that she had been chomping on, Ino hastily said, "Mom, Naruto don't—"

"It's okay, Ino-chan," Naruto muttered, smiling at Ino, and then, at Saeki. His eyes were cast downwards when he responded, "I don't know about them, Yamanaka-san, but I have Iruka-sensei now," he glanced at the Academy teacher, whose warm smile was more than welcomed at that time. "And that's all that matters."

"I see…" Saeki thoughtfully nodded, picking up her chopsticks again. "Ino told me that you want to be the future Hokage."

Naruto's face lit up and he grinned, that toothy, confident grin he wore everytime someone brought up the subject of his ambition. "Yeah, I'll be the Hokage and the strongest shinobi in Konoha! Then, everyone will acknowledge me!"

"You're too loud to be a Hokage," scoffed Ino, wiggling a finger at her energetic teammate.

"Hokage needs to be loud," Naruto haughtily reasoned, puffing out his cheeks. "So that everyone will listen to me whenever I give out an order."

The blonde girl snorted. "So will your enemies, idiot."

"No, they won't."

"They will."

"They won't."

"They will."

"They won't!"

"Will to."

"Will NOT!"

"Who's that brat yelling at my princess?"

Naruto was lifted by the scruff of his orange shirt, much to the boy's surprise and annoyance. He kicked and struggled, until he came face to face with a handsome man, wearing a Konoha forehead protector and had his fair hair tied back into a ponytail. Very much like Ino's. The man was glaring in displease at Naruto, one hand on his hip while another holding the blond up. Naruto frowned; he didn't like being treated like a kid. "Who're you? Let me go!"

Ino giggled from her seat and waved a hand at the man. "Hey, Dad."

"This your dad, Ino-chan?" Naruto raised his hand and did a mock salute. "Nice to meet you, Yamanaka-san." When the fair-haired man showed no indication that he was going to let the boy go, Naruto scratched the back of his head and hesitantly said, "Can you, like… put me down now? Please?"

"You were yelling at my daughter," accused Inoshi, his eyes narrowing. It was clear that he had switched from the 'Shinobi of Konoha' mode to the 'Overprotective Father' mode as soon as he had stepped into the house.

"Yeah, well /she/ started it!" Naruto indignantly pointed out, jerking a foot at the still giggling Ino.

Inoshi turned to face his daughter. "Did you, princess?"

"Nope," she shook her head, shoulder shaking. "I was just telling him the truth."

"Hear that? She was telling you the truth," the jounin spat out at Naruto, who cringed and glared at the source of his current mishap. The girl merely shrugged and nibbled on an onigiri, sharing chuckles with Iruka-sensei and her mother. "If I found you yelling at my daughter again," here, Inoshi cracked his knuckles threateningly and Naruto gulped. "You'll wish that you've never been born when I'm done with you."

Naruto was brusquely dumped onto his chair after the threat was delivered.

Inoshi glared at the blond boy and settled on a seat at the head of the table. He beamed at his guests and asked Ino, "Where's your teammates, princess?"

"Sasuke had gone home because he had a headache and you've just scared the shit out of Naruto, Dad," the girl replied with another chuckle. Although Ino knew that it was not nice to laugh at Naruto (after all, wasn't it her fault that her father 'bullied' the boy in the first place?) but it was just too funny to miss out.

She'll just treat the poor boy to ramen later then.

But remembering Naruto's demon-like appetite, Ino crossed the idea at once.

"That's /the/ Naruto?" the jounin exclaimed in disbelief, arching an eyebrow at the blond boy, who was mumbling and muttering darkly into his rice. He turned to look at Iruka-sensei and bashfully laughed out loud. "I thought that brat is Iruka's son or something!"

Ino erupted into a fresh fit of mad giggling, Saeki not too far behind.

Iruka-sensei was staring in horror at Inoshi.

Naruto had choked on his mouthful of rice and chicken and was pounding at his chest.

"Inoshi-san, I'm not even married yet!" admonished the chuunin sensei, a pretty shade of pink clinging stubbornly onto his cheeks.

The jounin grinned apologetically and waved a hand. "Sorry, sorry. You know how it is, Iruka-sensei, us ninjas and our secrets. I just found out that Kurenai's dating Asuma this morning and I've known the guy since he's a chuunin."

"Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei?"

"Yeah, and Hayate—" Inoshi caught his wife's warning glare and coughed uncomfortably into a fist. He leaned forward, critically scrutinising Naruto like he was seeing the boy for the first time. "He's a bit short for his age, isn't he?"

"And loud," supplied Ino from the sideline, sticking out her tongue at Naruto.

Inoshi nodded in agreement. "And loud too." He downed his cup of tea that Saeki had poured out prior to his arrival and popped an onigiri into his mouth, smiling as he chewed on the rice ball. "Ah… there's nothing better than my wife's rice ball after a hard day at work. So, what were you two fighting about?"

"I told Naruto that if he wants to be a Hokage or even a proper shinobi, he should stop being so loud," Ino answered, sipping on her tea. She had finished eating and was leaning back into her seat, waiting for everyone to get through the course. "Because the enemies can hear him if he's shouting his head off and creating a ruckus."

"Ino's got a point there, brat," Inoshi picked up the bowl he'd uncovered along with the pair of wooden chopsticks alongside it. Then, with the bowl tilted downward to his face, he began to cart a chunk of the rice and toppings into his mouth. Chewing along, he set his sight on the one smaller bowl next to his rice bowl and lifted its lid, revealing a pleasant aroma and thick soup swirling around small chunks of chicken and potatoes. His lips curled into a proud smile as he swallowed a mouthful of the soup. Licking his bottom lip, Inoshi said, "You've improved since last time, princess."

Naruto paused from hauling everything to feed his face and gawped in awe at Ino (who had blushed scarlet at her father's compliment). "You made this, Ino-chan? It's really, really good! I liked this soup the most!"

The blonde girl scratched the bridge of her nose in embarrassment and shrugged, attempting not to look too pleased with herself. She was failing quite miserably in her attempt. "Well, if you really like it, maybe… I can make some for you later."

"REALLY?"

"I told you you're too loud," frowned Ino, though she still had a small smile on her reddening pale face.

"I'll just kick the enemies' assess if they got to close then," Naruto replied confidently and resumed stuffing his face again.

The girl grinned, muttering 'Idiot' affectionately under her breath.

Inoshi narrowed his eyes in suspicion at his princess and the brat.

After the last of the dinner was cleared from the table, the three adults had moved to the living room to further discuss some 'boring grownups stuff' (as Ino huffily dubbed it to be) and left the two genins inside the kitchen with some chores. Well, actually, Saeki had to drag Inoshi out of the kitchen when the jounin initially refused to allow his precious daughter to do dishes alone with the short, loud-mouthed brat. It took some convincing (from Ino's part) and a whole lot of kitchen utensil-based threatening (Saeki's) until Inoshi petulantly allowed his wife to lead him towards the living room (though not without some harshly-whispered warnings to Naruto, whose face paled when he heard them), where Iruka-sensei was waiting with his fist stuffed inside his mouth to stop himself from laughing at the older jounin.

"Don't mind Dad," Ino mumbled, placing the dishes into the dishwasher and set the timer. She tied the top of a black plastic bag that held the leftover of their dinner into a knot and tossed it inside a dustbin at one corner of the kitchen, before turning to face Naruto. The boy was happily chewing on another onigiri, sitting on a chair with his right leg propped on his left knee. Ino fetched two glasses from the shelves, opened the fridge with one foot and took out a bottle of fresh orange juice. She placed the glasses onto the table in front of Naruto and filled them halfway with the orange liquid. "He still thinks of me as his little girl now and then. Especially around boys. I think he's growing senile."

Naruto nodded absently at the joke, his eyes on Ino as she moved fluidly around the kitchen. Wiping the wet counter with a rag cloth, rearranging the vase of pink and white carnations on one small coffee table, drying the washed dishes and cups, stacking them inside some cabinets, tucking back some locks of hair that escaped her loose bun, the frown on her face as she scrubbed vigorously at one stubborn dirty spot on a white porcelain plate, the wide satisfied smile when she held up the spotless plate and then, the curious half-grin when she noticed that he was watching her throughout the simple chores. The blond boy chuckled ruefully when Ino quirked an eyebrow questioningly, reaching out for the glass of juice to give him an escape from her impending probing. Ino rubbed her damp hands with a dry cloth, her bare feet creating an odd rhythm of soft pitter-patter on the parquet floor as she sauntered towards Naruto.

When Naruto tried to take another swig from the glass, he was dismayed to find it empty. And that Ino was seating across the table, tapping her carefully manicured fingers onto the wooden surface of the dining table.

"Well?"

The boy lifted his head and asked, with all earnest, "The… things… you said to Sasuke-bastard… Did you mean it?"

Ino's eyebrows furrowed into a frown, as she tried to remember the details of her little fight with the Uchiha. Coming out with only scratches of it, the girl pursed her lips. "Which one?"

"About we being… friends," Naruto willed himself to continue peering into his teammate's eyes, into that different shade of blue than his. But he liked them. Ino's eyes reminded him of the colour of sky when he first met Iruka-sensei. It was going to rain, maybe a storm too, and the blue sky was vaguely covered with a stretch of grey clouds. Bluish grey, just like Ino's eyes. "Did you mean it?"

"Of course I do," she replied, in a certain, confident tone that made him felt stupid for even doubting her words. Ino cupped her face with her open palms, her elbows supporting the light weight. "Why d'you asked?"

He looked down at the glass in his head, the transparent mirror reflecting his whiskered face. And he remembered Mizuki-sensei's ruthless words. Naruto inhaled deeply, stroking the smooth glass with his calloused thumb. "I've never had a friend before."

"So?" the boy blinked at Ino, who was frowning at him. She waved her hands wildly in the air, gesturing something. "The past's the past. /Now/ is what matters, right? When you've become stronger, you'll find more friends. I'll be here until then. Iruka-sensei too. I think Kakashi-sensei's somehow our friend, though he's a pervert. And Sasuke—"

"He can go to Hell," Naruto vehemently hissed, remembering all that things that bastard had said to Ino. And his disappearing back when he walked out on them.

"And if he does, we'll have to follow him, ne?" she stretched her long legs, grinning lazily at Naruto with all the expected feline grace. Ino rested her chin on her drawn knees, toes wriggling over the edge of the chair. "We're teammates. I told him that we'd watch over his ass if he did something stupid and I'm not someone that goes against my words. And remember what Kakashi-sensei said when we passed his test?"

Naruto grinned at the memory. "You're worst than trash if you left your friends behind. Yeah, that pervert sensei's right."

They ended up grinning at each other in a comfortable silence.

"Naruto? We're going."

Iruka-sensei walked into the kitchen, followed closely behind by Inoshi and Saeki. The two Yamanakas were arguing over something, though Inoshi was losing by the look of it. Naruto nervously jumped to his feet when the jounin dropped his (failing) argument with his wife and glared at the blond boy, as if he was purposely looking for a reason to carry out his threats from before. Saeki heaved a sigh at her husband's immature act, whacking the back of the man's head with a wooden spatula that materialised out of nowhere. Iruka-sensei and Ino giggled when Inoshi yelped in protest, the blonde girl coming to her father's rescue from the wrath of Saeki's spatula. They moved towards the front door in a loud and cheerful procession, though Ino disappeared for several minutes when she claimed that she left something in the kitchen.

"Thank you for the great dinner, Saeki-san," Iruka-sensei said as he slipped on his haori. He also nodded gratefully at Inoshi. "I really enjoyed it."

"Yeah, me too!" Naruto beamed at Inoshi and Saeki alike. "This is the best dinner I've been to!"

Ino, who had appeared from her brief disappearance earlier, smirked at the gratifying outburst. "This is the only place you've been for dinner, except Iruka-sensei's house, urchin head."

"Is that true, Naruto-kun?" asked Saeki, kneeling in front of the boy, her expression serious with all her maternal instinct. "No one ever invited you over before?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly and nodded. "I don't mind, really!"

To everyone's surprise, Saeki suddenly pulled the blond into a tight hug, rubbing circles on Naruto's back. She pulled back and placed her hands firmly on the shocked boy's shoulder, her face set with determination. "You can come over anytime, Naruto-kun. Anytime. Drop by before you go to your team's meeting; we can have breakfast together. Iruka-sensei told me that you only eat ramen at home, so make sure that you come here often because I don't approve of my daughter's teammate suffering from malnutrition. Understand?"

"Um, but—"

"I don't want any 'but' from you," chastised the dark-haired woman and gave Naruto a curt nod as a sign of encouragement. "Promise me that you'll do that."

Naruto's mouth quirked into a crooked grin, his eyes a bit misty but everyone seemed oblivious of it. "I… promise?"

Saeki smiled at the boy and stood up, dusting the lower half of her kimono. She leaned against her husband; Inoshi circling his hand around the woman's slim waist lovingly. "Make sure that you keep your promise. I'll be waiting."

"Mom," Ino mock-whined from besides them, her eyes glinting mischievously. She pouted in exaggerated melancholy and simpered, "I know you always wanted a boy, instead of me! How could you!"

"Don't flatter yourself! You're more violent than most boys, Ino-chan!" Naruto gleefully teased, dodging the punch aimed for his head from the furious blonde girl. He danced away from Ino, hiding behind a laughing Iruka-sensei. "See, I told you so!"

The scuffle was effectively stopped by Inoshi, who growled at Naruto for calling her precious princess 'unladylike', though that earned him a painful whack from Saeki's Spatula of Doom. Naruto shrugged on his jacket, grinning at the sight of the tall Inoshi cowered in shame as his wife chided him for his behaviour. His grin faltered for a split second when the jounin shot the boy a glare, before the spatula made contact with Inoshi's skull again. Inoshi winced, mumbling a faint 'Sorry' at Saeki and listened as the woman prattled on.

"I'll walk them to the gates," Ino said over her shoulder, opening the door for her two guests. She had one hand hid behind her back, obscuring whatever it was that she was holding.

Saeki nodded, smiling at Iruka-sensei and Naruto. Her eyes lingered longer on the blond boy. "Good night and thank you for coming." The thankful smile she directed at Iruka-sensei had a hidden meaning in it. "I'm glad you brought Naruto along."

"You should thank Ino," the chuunin modestly said. "Good night to you too, Saeki-san, Inoshi-san," Iruka-sensei gave the couple one last bow and walked through the door.

Naruto waved a hand, a wide grin on his face. "Thanks for the food! See you!"

When they reached the gates that separated Ino's house from the main road, the girl thrust a small box towards Naruto, who blinked and almost dropped the cloth-covered, lacquered wooden box in surprise. "What's this?"

"Onigiri," Ino answered simply, a badly-covered anxious smile gracing her lips. "I made those this evening. They're not as good as Mom's but I'm still learning."

As Naruto gave the Ino's lean figure a last wave, he thought that she looked very pretty, with her wind-ruffled hair and wide, sincere smile.

And of course, what he liked most about Ino was her blue-grey eyes.

Naruto smiled and held onto the small box like it was the most precious thing he had ever received.

**TBC**

Review or… wait, is that a flying chipmunk? Catch it!

**Kaara**


	8. Anarchist

**Title:** Between Sun and Moon.

**By:** Kaara.

**Disclaimer:** … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

**Warning:** Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

I apologize for the extremely late update. I have been the latest victim of the infamous CLS (Chronic Laziness Syndrome) attack. The word 'Procrastinate! Procrastinate!' seemed to have taken control of my mind and I have been unconsciously avoiding double-clicking my 'Fanfics in Progress' folder, such strong hold this hardly-curable disease had on my poor person!

To those who are asking/demanding when the NaruIno action will start, let me explain something about this fic. I intend to take things slowly, building up the plot that I have in mind and the characters' personalities. This process is going to take some time because to tell you the truth, I dislike fics where the main objective of the writer is to toss in a well-liked pairing and screw around with the characters so that they will receive reviews solely for the sake of the pairing. I'm not saying that this is a wrong thing to do; we are, after all, entitled to our own opinion. But it kinda makes the pairing goes stale after some time.

Did I make any sense?

Do I look like I care?

xxx

**Chapter Eight: Anarchist.**

xxx

Ino waited until Iruka-sensei and Naruto's figures disappeared into the looming darkness, before walking back towards the porch of her home. She sighed, rubbing her knuckles against her eyes tiredly and opened the front door in sluggish deliberation. Instead of slipping off her sandals and going in, Ino groped around for something that she had placed behind the door prior to saying goodbye to her dinner guests. A small smile graced her lips when her fingers brushed over a stretch of soft fabric and she pulled out another clothed bento box similar to the one she had given to Naruto earlier.

"Going somewhere, princess?"

The blonde girl jumped at the sudden intrusion, and glared up at her father, one hand clutched over her hammering heart. "Dad! You could've given me a heart attack!" She exhales noisily and pouted at the fair-haired jounin.

Inoshi smiled fondly, patting his daughter's platinum golden head. "You haven't answered my question. Are you going somewhere?"

"Err… actually, yeah," she grinned and scratched the bridge of her nose, looking down at the box in her hand. "I made onigiri for Naruto and Sasuke. Can I just slip out for a while and send some to Sasuke? I promise I won't be long!"

"I don't mind; you /are/ a big girl now and Saeki did tell me something about one of your teammates being sick," the jounin chuckled as he avoided a stomp aimed for his toes. "Just make sure that you'd be careful."

"Yes, sir!" Ino nodded, giving Inoshi a two-finger mock salute and set off to the general direction of Sasuke's house. It surprised her a little when she realized that their houses were only a few blocks apart, as she had never seen the dark-haired Uchiha gallivanting (or even showing his sallow face) around the area. Well, when she thought about how he seemed to be allergic to social-related activities, it did make sense somehow.

The dark blanket of night had covered Konoha with its shadows, the absence of cloud arrays allowing a clear vision of stars that were suspended over the sky like trapped fireflies on the blue cloak of Heaven. Cool, gentle breeze hummed a foreign, yet gentle melody into the girl's ears, her silver earrings twinkling like delicate chimes in a windy day. She had always loved nights like these, as it gave her the opportunity to indulge in rare tranquillity and a sense of pleasantness that even the brightest of days could never provide. Flowers would look radiant under glorious sunlight but there were some selected few that appeared almost surreal in pools of silver moonlight; and they were her all-time favourites. Ino tilted her head to study the winking stars overhead, recalling names of various constellations from a book on Astronomy that Shikamaru's dad had gave her for her tenth birthday.

The mesmerizing patterns never failed to captivate the blonde girl.

Beauty, as it seemed to be, was an irresistible power to Ino.

But nights like these also make her think more than she usually did. More than she should. Sometimes it annoyed her to the point of throwing a temper tantrum, no matter how childish that sounded, because thinking too much often made her angry or upset. Sometimes, she would subconsciously analyse her past mistakes, little blunders or occasional slips of tongue and while she could put up a brash and confident front before everyone else, acting like she didn't care, it would be downright stupid to lie to herself. Yamanaka Ino was an analytical girl by nature; she wouldn't be one of the top female students in the Ninja Academy if she weren't. She just chose to ignore that side of her personality if and when she could help it. It would be too troublesome (Shikamaru must be rubbing off on her, screw that lazy bum) to acknowledge that every waking minutes.

But tonight, her mind decided to dwell on the subject that is… Naruto.

Surprise, surprise.

Ino frowned and nibbled on her lower lip, her feet automatically taking control of their own coordination to allow the brain to focus on something else. It was a habit of hers when she started thinking; she would block out the rest of the world and let her instinct take most of the control, sharpened enough so that she didn't have to worry about falling into drains or walking into brick walls. Now, to refresh her memory on anything that held any importance regarding her yellow-haired subject…

She didn't know the boy well from their Academy days, courtesy of being in different classes and that she felt no need to know everybody in her batch other than those from significant clans of Konoha and potential rivals in being the best female shinobi. That instantly eliminated the idiot prankster that turned Iruka-sensei into a constant yelling machine with all his stupid, immature jokes. He was just not important /enough/ at that time. Maybe she had seen him once or twice in the playground, playing alone by the rusty swing but she wasn't too sure about that piece of memory. It might've been Naruto; it might've been someone else. That evident was circumstantial. What she /did/ know was that almost everyone held some sort of a grudge or dislike over the blond boy for Kami's-know-what reason. She was partially indifferent and mostly ignorant because really, the boy had nothing to do with her at all! Naruto might've been a reincarnated Grim Reaper for all his worth and she wouldn't have given a damn, unless he declared war against Konoha or trampled over her precious flowers.

But Naruto was one of her teammates now, and she had gotten the chance to get to know him much better within the past few days than the four years they had spent in the Ninja Academy, not that she really wanted to in the first place. She learnt for one that Naruto was absolutely enamoured with anything ramen-related and she had only Iruka-sensei to blame. Really, what kind of teacher encouraged his student (or ex-student/unofficial foster brother/son) to regard ramen, instant or Ichiraku-type, as THE ultimate cuisine? That was just plain ridiculous and unhealthy. Naruto also liked, no/loved/ the colour orange (three guesses what the colour of his jumpsuit was), and bright yellow at times. And whisker face proved to royally suck at housekeeping or doing even the most basic of house chores. He certainly wasn't a stickler for hygiene either, judging from his patented 'I've-just-rolled-around-in-the-mud-and-I-don't-give-a-flying-fuck-if-you-know-about-it' grubby appearance. Ino's forehead wrinkled slightly as she thought about the condition of Naruto's apartment. Messy was a gross understatement of massive proportion.

No, beauty was a lost cause to Naruto.

Then, what really made the boy so appealing to her?

The blonde girl mentally shook her head. No, not appealing. Just… curiosity.

Yeah, that's it. Curiosity. Good 'ol /safe/ curiosity. Not appealing. Definitely not.

Ino grimaced as some unknown inner inner voice from some unknown inner inner depth of her mind vilely snickered at her mental argument. She would have to hunt down and massacre that inner inner voice later, whatever it was. It wouldn't do to have a bodiless entity floating around her head and messing with her trains of thoughts. Especially one who had the guts to snicker at /her/ in her own mind! And /dammit/ she was getting distracted again! Sighing, the longhaired girl checked the almost-deserted street to ensure that she was indeed going to the right way and that there was no random homicidal nin that would jump out of the trimmed bushes alongside the paved road and attack her for the small box of onigiri. The thought made Ino laugh softly, the sound filtrating through the silence that hung like mist in the air. A couple of teenagers hurried past her, the red-haired girl clinging blissfully onto her lanky boyfriend's arm, both sharing a long green scarf that went around their throats and made them appear even closer than possible. Ino eyed the pair enviously, before pouting and stalked ahead.

So what if she didn't have a boyfriend? It's not like she needed to cling on some random guy like that foolish girl. That'd be pathetic. And didn't they know that red and green are out of season now? They looked like a cheesy couple out of a bad Christmas romance flick. And no, she didn't watch those corny movies. Humph.

As Ino turned around the corner that would take her into Sasuke's compound, she was taken aback when she saw a suspicious silhouette slowly inching away from a rather thick clutter of rose bushes towards an opened window on the ground floor. Her shinobi senses kicking in, the blonde girl noiselessly placed the bento box onto the pavement and moved her right hand to the general direction of her weapon pouch, only to remember that she was not dressed up for battle that night. She even forgot to grab a warm jacket in her way out. Cursing under her breath, Ino carefully weighed her chances as the dark figure paused in its track, blending in with the shadows provided by the many trees surrounding them. She was unwillingly impressed by the display of stealth but noted with curiosity that the figure was sporting a spiky-like hairstyle. And that she saw flashes of orange when the figure tiptoed /past/ the opened window.

… Orange…?

Arching an eyebrow, Ino stepped out of her own hiding place, her arms crossed against her chest. "Is that you, Naruto?"

The mysterious silhouette froze on spot, and slowly turned its head towards Ino. She had to resist the urge to slap her forehead (or better yet, the boy) when she saw the sheepish grin on the whiskered, tanned face that greeted her. Picking up her little box, Ino furrowed her eyebrows into a dark frown (effectively masking her curiosity as well) and stomped towards Naruto. The boy was fidgeting on his feet, though his eyes shone with determination when they defiantly locked gazes with Ino's. "What'cha doing 'ere, Ino-chan?"

"I should be the one asking you that," retorted the Yamanaka, tapping her sandaled foot expectantly onto the ground. "I thought Iruka-sensei had already walked you home."

"Yeah, he did and he told me to sleep early 'cause we have a meeting t'morrow," Naruto scratched the back of his head, his eyes darting towards the front door of Sasuke's house. "But I need to, er… talk, yeah, talk with Sasuke-bas— um, Sasuke 'bout something."

Ino felt her left eyebrow began to twitch.

Really, who was this boy joking?

"You're not going to fight with him again, are you?"

His blue eyes flashed with obviously-faked indignant. "'Course not!"

"Are you trying to /lie/ to me, Naruto?" Ino cracked her knuckles, pure malice lacing her words. If there was one thing that she absolutely despised, it was liars. And lovesick fools. But that was just her little idiosyncrasies.

"NO!" the boy glared at the door for the last time before turning his full attention on Ino. His shoulder sagged slightly under her fierce glare and he whined, "I mean, he /deserves/ it!" there was no mistaking the contempt in Naruto's voice, nor does the more-than-little fury in the tone. Naruto regarded his female teammate with narrowed eyes, fingers clenching into tight fists. "He made you /upset/."

Ino was startled to find that Naruto cared /that/ deeply about her feelings, more so than the fact that the boy had somehow learnt how to sneak around somebody's house with near perfect stealth, being the loud person that she thought he was. Torn between feeling touched ("Awwww! He's concerned about me!") or angry ("Who does he think I am? Some overemotional twit?"), Ino settled on being annoyed. Yep, annoyed is good. Annoyed made her look unconcerned about his concern on her feelings. Annoyed gave her a perfectly good reason to ignore the blush that was threatening to spread over her pale cheeks. Annoyance is godsend. Mental ranting done. She coughed awkwardly to cover her brief (shocked, startled, surprised and other words synonymous to these mentioned three) silence and shifted the clothed box to her other hand. That brought Naruto's attention to the bento, onigiri-stacked box.

His eyes hardened at the sight and he bitterly asked, "That for Sasuke-bastard?"

"Uh, yeah," she stared down at the box, noticing that Naruto was also doing the same. Her lips curved into a lopsided grin as she tilted her head to survey the dark house. "I don't know 'bout giving them to him tonight though; I think he's already asleep."

"It's rather hard to sleep when you two are arguing besides my bedroom."

Ino almost jumped in surprise when a head detached itself from the shadow, pale hands nonchalantly crossed on the window ledge, supporting shirt-clad shoulders and of course, the 'head'. Uchiha Sasuke was wearing an annoyed expression ('Annoyed is good,' chanted Ino mentally) and had his piercing, almost-a-glare gaze directed to her. If looks could kill, he would've succeeded in turning the blonde girl into a pile of goo-ish human waste in just five impressive nanoseconds. However, much to Sasuke's chagrin, he was yet to be able to execute the deadly 'Glare of Death' move, leaving Ino pretty much alive and happy, thankyouverymuch. She cocked her head to a side, attempting to appear innocent and perky to further annoy the already annoyed dark-haired Uchiha. "Sasuke-kuuun!" Here, she fluttered her long eyelashes for effect and held up the box of onigiri in her hand with a shrill giggle. "Look what I have for you!"

Naruto, who was standing behind Ino, had a fist inside his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"What do you want?" snapped Sasuke, his eyes narrowing into slits and obviously not enjoying the show. He was not amused. Not amused at all.

Ch', killjoy.

Pushing back the little 'fangirling' act for future use, Ino said, "You missed dinner and I felt bad for… yelling… at you." She was sorely tempted to say 'bulldozing your massive ego', but thought better than adding salt to the existent injury. They were teammates. And she really wanted to make amends. She was the one who started the fight, after all. Though he didn't have to be such a bastard over it. "So I brought you something."

"And I'm here to punch your face if you dare to refuse Ino-chan's onigiri," Naruto interjected curtly, any trace of earlier mirth evaporated into cold, hard anger. It was slightly unnerving to see the usually cheerful blond to sound so oddly… intimidating but Ino found it to be attractive. Like she was slowly being exposed to the other sides of Naruto. And no, it was /not/ appealing. Just her goddamn curiosity, dammit!

The girl shrugged and grinned widely. "Yeah, what he said."

Sasuke eyed the cloth-covered box for a while, before an indiscernible blush started making its way across the pale boy's cheek. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly and he pushed himself away from the window ledge. He stared at Ino and said, "Do you want to… come in?"

"Hey, hey, what about me?" chimed in Naruto, waving a fist in the air and jumping around like an agitated monkey.

The dark-haired Uchiha spared him a glare. "I don't want /you/ inside my house or anywhere near me. Your stupidity might be contagious."

Seeing that another war was about to take place between the two boys, Ino sighed and smacked her teammates' heads. At the same time. Stupid childish competitiveness. Stupid boys. "Shut up, you two. Thanks, Sasuke, but no thanks. I told Dad that I'd be quick. Besides, it's already late and I need to wake up early tomorrow." She handed the box to Sasuke, who took it with a sour look on his face and another glare at the general direction of Naruto. "And I'm sorry for, you know, saying what I said before."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed again and Ino fleetingly thought that if the boy were not careful, he would have slanted eyes when he's older. Imagine /that/. "… Hn."

"What, no 'I'm sorry too, for being a complete bastard'?" Ino teased, her eyes twinkling with mischief. Call her weird but she took some kind of a perverse pleasure in annoying Sasuke. Those frowns and scowls showed that Sasuke, who usually had less facial expression than a block of ice, was somehow a normal (okay, maybe not /that/ normal) human being like Naruto and her. That, contrary to popular belief, the Uchiha indeed had feelings. No matter how monotonous or repetitive (hate, annoyed, hate, anger, hate) they were. He was most probably just going through that rampaging-hormone stage her mother often talked about. And he needed normal people like her and Naruto and, er… Kakashi-sensei to set him straight.

Right.

Uh, on the other hand, Naruto might not be as normal as relative normalcy could possibly allow, so scratch that.

And Ino couldn't trust Kakashi-sensei to give any decent amount of proper counselling to a codfish, let alone his student. That perverted, one-eyed jounin might end up giving Sasuke a porn-based therapy and turned the Uchiha survivor into a pervert like him. It's a common knowledge that /all/ one-eyed people are evil. What Kakashi-sensei's missing was a peg leg and a talking parrot and he'll fit right in.

…

… Team Seven was definitely assorted weirdoes.

Or psychos. Such fun. Yippee.

Ino skewered her analytical side to death with a mental giant senbon.

Now you understand why she rather ignored it?

"—shitface like you!"

"At least I know how to use a kunai, dead last."

"What d'you mean by THAT? I CAN use a KUNAI, bastard!"

Snort. "Yeah, sure."

"Want me to demonstrate? Your nose looks like the perfect target."

"I'd watch /your/ nose then."

"Teme—!"

"Cut it out already!" Ino shrieked, hands rising for another twin smacks. The effect was instantaneous; both Naruto (outdoor) and Sasuke (indoor) took a step back, clamping their respective mouths shut. The blonde girl huffed and lowered her hands back, glowering at her teammates. "I swear, you two are going to be the death of me! Maybe I should get a contract or something to… stop… you…" the words slowly died on her tongue as her eyes glazed over and an idea formed inside her mind. Ino blinked out of her short reverie and punched a fist into her palm, grinning triumphantly at something. "That's it! Some sort of a contract!"

"Eh, whatcha talkin' bout, Ino-chan?" Naruto tentatively asked, peering at the girl's face with curiosity and a tiny bit of alarm. Ino-chan could be so… twisted… sometimes. No telling what she could come up with.

Like that cleaning his apartment thing. Twisted, I'm tellin' you.

Sasuke raised one fine eyebrow, eyes fixed on Ino.

"How 'bout we make an arrangement? Like, a contract or something," chirped the girl, blue eyes a-twinkling. She looked eagerly from Naruto to Sasuke, and back to Naruto again. Both appeared to be confused. "You know, a pact."

"I don't see the point of making a useless pact," Sasuke dryly retorted, eyebrow returning to its usual position. He was wearing his 'you're-not-worth-my-time' look combined with the infamous 'you're-wasting-my-time' half-lidded glare. Of course there is a difference between the two, people! Look carefully!

Ino pursed her lips and mentally counted until ten. And then, she pulled out a mental shotgun and gunned down those numbers viciously. "Okay, a peace treaty then."

"What's a peace treaty?" asked the oblivious Naruto, a look of utter confusion in his blue, blue eyes.

"Like, if you promise not to, er… yell so much and…" Ino paused, nibbling on her lower lip. She had been doing that a lot nowadays and if she weren't careful, one half of her lips would be swollen beyond recognition. "And Sasuke promise not to grunt too much! Yeah, like a fair trade!"

Sasuke grunted from the sideline.

Ino glowered at the Uchiha.

Naruto blinked.

"I don't think I understand…" mumbled the blond-haired boy, cocking his head to a side and crossed his arms against his chest. "Why do we have to do this treaty thingy? Does it have anything to do with being a ninja?"

Ino heaved a long, suffering sigh and looked at the two boys, one in front of her and one next to her, separated by half a wall and a window frame. "Look, we're in a team now; Team Seven. Genins operate in teams in order to exercise teamwork from early stage, because we will do missions in the future that require us to depend not only to our abilities, and ourselves but also on our teammates to get the things done. Do you think that the elites, like jounins and ANBU works in teams just because they thought that the more the merrier?"

A standing ovation to Iruka-sensei and Teamwork 101 classes.

"I know that," Sasuke scoffed, though he had shed the bored look on his face and replaced it with slight reluctance. He had moved closer to the window, closer to the two people that was standing in the middle of his garden, in the ungodly hours of the night. For someone who didn't wear his emotions on his sleeves like Naruto did, the dark-haired boy was unusually expressive. Even the smallest lines, or twitches from his feature contradicted his stoic mask, revealing his supposedly nonexistent feelings and made him as easy to read as an opened book. Written in letters using the font size of 72.

Ino, recognizing this, had to stop herself from grinning insanely.

Instead, she scowled at Sasuke. "I'm not done yet, fridge boy. You should learn some manners, you know. It's rude to butt in when a lady is talking."

"What lady?" taunted Naruto, looking around with a too innocent expression on his whiskered face. He pursed his lips and said; "I don't see any lady around here."

Ino felt the corner of her mouth twitch. Once. Twice.

POW!

"Shut up, bakayarou!" the blonde girl mercilessly stared down at the half-conscious Naruto, who was twitching on the ground with a large bump on his head. She gave the almost prone figure a kick on the side before turning to face Sasuke, cracking her knuckles. Sasuke swallowed. Hard. "Now, as I was saying, before being /rudely/ interrupted," Ino gave Naruto another vicious kick and glared at Sasuke, as if daring him to make another wrong remark. The Uchiha wisely kept his mouth shut. Girls could be so scary sometimes. He had learnt that from first-hand experience when he had been hunted by some of his most prominent fangirls back in the Academy days. Scarrrrry! "We need to function as a real team. Just like Kakashi-sensei said after that Bell Test. If we work together, we might even defeat a jounin."

"But… how?" asked Naruto from his position on the ground. He was sitting cross-legged on the dusty earth, one hand rubbing his assaulted head and another rested on his crossed thighs. He looked genuinely interested, his eyes sparkling with life and curiosity. Like a little boy who had had just asked why his rubber duckling was floating in the tub.

"A peace treaty," Sasuke responded after a second of silence, his eyes locked on Ino. His voice held a disgruntled tone, a sign that although he knew the answer to Naruto's question, he didn't like it. "That's what you've been babbling about."

Ino pouted and placed her hands on her hip. "I /do not/ babble. Anyway, you're right. If we can't be friends, yet, we might as well force ourselves to tolerate each other for the time being if we want to be more than genins. I think there is no rule that stated that we couldn't ask for a transfer once we're a chuunin. And I'm telling you, I have absolutely /no/ plan in being a genin for the rest of my life."

Another silence greeted her words, as her teammates actually pondered on that.

The possibilities of them making a pact…

The possibilities of them breaking the pact…

And then,

"Why?"

That one word echoed twice.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. Ino sniggered.

"Bastard! Now you're stealing my line!" yelled Naruto. He jumped onto his feet and flashed the Uchiha /the/ finger.

Sasuke merely 'Hn'-ed at the incensed blond.

"Before you wake the entire neighbourhood up with your yelling, Naruto, what did you want to ask me?" Ino interjected, standing between the spike-headed boy and wanton destruction.

Naruto puffed out his cheeks in anger, but he complied nonetheless. His face contorted into a rare display of seriousness. "I mean, what with all this 'treaty' stuff and us being friends? Why does it mean so much to you, Ino-chan?"

Ino coloured slightly, the dusty pick shade creeping up her cheeks. "That's, uh…"

"We barely know one another," Sasuke cut in, ignoring the look of disapproval that was directed his way by Naruto. There was a glint of… /something/… in his dark eyes that made him appear eager. So very un-Sasuke-like. "You could've minded your own business, and we will mind ours. That could work for Team Seven. There is no need for you to go to such extreme level to be our… /friends/. Shinobi is a killing machine, trained to perfection to ignore unimportant details of life, such as friendship." Sasuke stopped when he realized that Naruto was gaping at him and irritably snapped, "What?"

"You are… talking," the blond boy dumbly recited, mouth still hung open. "Really talking. In /long/ sentences."

Ino allowed a dry chuckle to escape her equally dry throat. "Yeah, that was my reaction when he first did that. Creepy, huh?"

Naruto slowly nodded, still gaping at his annoyed teammate.

"Stop talking in circle and answer me, Ino," Sasuke's voice cut through Naruto's stupor, jerking the blond back to reality and made Ino wished that she was anywhere but there.

Alas, Fate had spoken…

"Me and my big mouth," muttered the girl in defeat, sighing deeply. The shade of pink on her cheeks was still there, highlighting her high cheekbones and the lovely curves of her face. Ino forced her lips to stretch into a grim smile as she eyed the boys, who were staring with open curiosity and waiting for her reaction. Sasuke's curiosity was a bit more hostile than necessary, she noted. "Fine, I'll tell you. But promise that you won't laugh or kill me, okay?"

Both looked puzzled but nodded their assent.

Ino inhaled deeply, the pink evolving into a brighter rosy hue. "Because I don't like seeing lonely people. It makes me… upset."

Deafening silence.

"What's that have to do with us being friends?" questioned a more than confused Naruto, frowning.

Another deep inhale of oxygen. "You, and Sasuke… you know, look lonely. I don't like that."

"Ino-chan—" Naruto started to protest.

"Ino—" Sasuke started to narrow his eyes.

In perfect unison. Again.

How amusing.

"Hear me out first, will you?" she was starting to get exasperated. Embarrassed as hell as well but now that she's beginning to explain, there was no way to back out of it. Yamanaka Ino was everything /but/ a coward. "You can deny it all you want but do it when I finished talking." She nodded, more to herself than the two when they closed their mouths, resuming their attentive listeners role. "I don't like being upset. I /hate/ it, in fact. But I don't know /what/ makes you lonely in the first place, why Naruto grins /too/ much and why Sasuke angst /too/ much. I don't know the reasons,I'm sure you won't tell me even if I askedso I can't help you with them. I don't have much to offer but to me, friendship is the most valuable thing I have. That's what I'm offering right now. And I don't take 'no' as an answer."

The silence was really beginning to grate her nerves and Ino sullenly thought that /that/ was the worst confession that she had ever made in her whole life. Even including the 'I-peed-on-my-futon' incident when she was five. And yes, she had stopped doing it when she reached six. Ino waited for her teammates to break the overwhelming silence, to say something or (as cruel as it seemed), to laugh out loud. Naruto was staring down at his sandaled feet when she looked over at him, while Sasuke had opted to death glare the window ledge. Both refused to be the first one to speak. Was it /that/ bad? The blonde girl groaned inwardly; they must've thought that she was a serious nutcase. Either that, or they were offended. Maybe she shouldn't have said too much. Maybe she should've just told them that she had promised on her dead turtle's grave that she would make friends with her genin teammates.

"Ino-chan?"

Ino tilted her head, nodding to show that she was listening. Her eyebrows furrowed into a frown as he watched Naruto shuffled uncertainly on his feet. Sasuke had also looked up from trying to murder his window ledge, apparently unsuccessful with the attempt. "You remember when I asked you about those… stuff you said back when we were in your kitchen?"

"Yeah," she nodded again, confused of the direction of this conversation. "Why?"

"You said that you'll be our… /my/ friend. My /first/ real friend," the smile that was plastered all over Naruto's face was brilliant, sincere and astoundingly beautiful and Ino felt like a hundred anxious butterflies were fluttering madly inside her stomach. "And I believe you. We /are/ friends. I promise that. I don't want to do that peace treaty crap; I don't need it."

Ino couldn't help but to smile at that, a warm feeling coursing through her veins and killed those annoying butterflies at once. Her eyes softened and she said, in a gentle voice quite unlike hers, "Thanks, Naruto." One blink of an eye and Ino was frowning again. "But that's not really what the peace treaty was all about, you idiot."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

"Like I said, we make a terrible team when you and Sasuke keep arguing over everything," she breathed out, crossing her arms. "What I meant was that we make a promise to not argue too much. Sometimes is okay, because I know that you two are too much of a stubborn bastard to stop completely but if we do it everytime we meet, we'll kill each other before the enemies get us. Naruto can promise not to call Sasuke names and Sasuke can promise not to, say, grunt too much. How about that?"

"What about you?" Sasuke suddenly questioned, effectively reminding the other two that he was still there.

"What about me?" retorted the girl, frown deepening.

Sasuke smirked and lazily said, "Dead Last won't call me names and I can't grunt too much, that's all fine and dandy. But what about you? What'll /you/ promise not to do?"

"Yeah, Ino-chan! It's not fair when only me and Sasuke-bastard got to promise things! You have to promise /something/ too!"

"But… but I was the one who came up with this!" Ino all but shrieked, eyes widening in indignation. "Besides, I don't do stupid things like you guys."

"Then you have to stop whacking us," Naruto pulled the suggestion out of thin air and grinned like someone had just announced that he won an all-expense paid trip to Ramen Land. He rubbed his abused head once again and continued, "No more hitting my head, and Sasuke's. Alright?"

"Just the heads, eh?" sneered Ino, a feral grin on her face. She flexed her arms and cracked her knuckles. "That means I can feel free to amputate your other limbs, sans the head of course."

Naruto whimpered under the homicidal vibes radiating from the girl.

"No more hitting. Period," Sasuke snapped, though he looked more relaxed than Ino had ever seen him whenever he was around them. And for once, his eyes held something akin to mirth when he looked at her. "Do we have a deal?"

"I believe we do, Uchiha-kun," nodded the blonde Yamanaka, a surge of satisfaction evident in her own laughing eyes. The night had been an interesting one, for sure.

"Hey, hey! Let's do the pinky finger promise," Naruto jumped in excitement and grabbed Ino's wrist, pulling the surprised girl towards Sasuke. "Iruka-sensei said that people don't break pinky promises!"

"That's the stupidest thing you've ever come up with," said Sasuke, the trace of mirth replaced with pure annoyance.

Ino laughed and shook her head. "You know what, I think Naruto's right. I haven't done this for years." She held out one hand and wriggled the smallest finger. "I promise not to whack these two idiots on daily basis."

"I promise not to call Sasuke-bastard his deserved nicknames," inserted her spike-headed teammate, hooking his own pinky finger with Ino's. He scowled at the unmoving Sasuke and snarled, "Well, what're you waiting for?"

"I refuse to touch Naruto," deadpanned the Uchiha, inviting a glare from the said blond and a loud guffaw from Ino.

"Oh, come on," chirped the girl happily, and mischievously. "You didn't seem to mind when you /kissed/ him."

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look of utter mortification.

Ino burst into a mad bout of guffaws.

"Ino-chan! You're going to give me nightmares!" whined Naruto, face scrunched up in disgust when he glared at Sasuke.

"Sorry, sorry," choked Ino in between laughter, wiping a trail of tears away from her flushed cheek. She winked at the petrified Sasuke and said, "Just do it so I can go home already, Sasuke. I don't have all night."

"Hn," the dark-haired boy snorted disdainfully, leaning out through the window of his bedroom until he was within touching distant with the other two. He reluctantly stretched out his arm and wrapped his finger around his teammates', muttering, "I promise not to grunt too much."

"And don't fight each other," Ino narrated, pointedly glaring at the boys.

"And I won't kick Sasuke-bastard's ugly butt," Naruto glumly parroted.

"I will not mangle the Dead Last if I can help it," growled Sasuke.

The three fingers that were linked together made Ino smile.

They had just taken one step towards the future.

Together.

Oh hell, stop it with the fluffiness already.

**TBC**

Review or next chapter will be all about Gai in nothing but a pink tutu.

No, stop sniggering. I'm perfectly serious here.

**Kaara**


	9. Juxtapose

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

Sorry for the extremely late update. I have no one to blame but myself.

Before I proceed, go **check my profile page and my homepage**. That's my LJ account and anybody who's waiting for an update can go check there. I'll make sure to update it often.

Let me remind you that this chapter is like a… filler. You know, like in the anime, when stupid stuff happens and they just show it for the sake of prolonging the story and make us manga-reader pissed off? Yep, this chapter is one of those little annoying distractions. I apologize in advance if you feel a bit dissatisfied with the lack of update and length but I am busy and currently trying to cope with everything. Making mistakes and stumbling over things. The norms.

Just read on and have fun. Enjoy.

xxx

**Chapter Nine: Juxtapose.**

… otherwise known as **The Make-Fun-of-Everyone Chapter.**

xxx

"Come on now, three more flower beds to go!"

Ino gritted her teeth at Kakashi-sensei's gratingly cheerful exclamation and vindictively pulled out a handful of weeds from the brown soil, tossing the limp greenery onto a growing pile towards her left. She muttered a curse under her breath and glanced towards her two teammates. To her relish, they were both obviously suffering from the combination of their newest 'mission' and suppressing the homicidal urges towards their less-than-helpful sensei. Naruto was positively tearing into the unrelenting weeds and other thorny wild flowers like a vengeful dog searching for a missing bone. Sasuke, being his stereotype 'cool' self, was methodically picking through his way, hands working swiftly using two kunai. It made Ino wonder if the Uchiha had a secret gardening-related pastime activity; he looked so, so… professionally efficient.

And Kakashi-sensei…

That no-good, porn-reading, grey-headed old sod!

The jounin was happily sitting on the white picket fence surrounding the garden, reading that damned porn of his while sucking on an orange peel!

The platinum blonde ran a gloved hand over her sore, bandaged thigh, grimacing slightly when crumbs of dirt dribbled onto her dress. Saeki had started nagging when she saw the state of Ino's dresses everytime the girl came home from her missions and today won't help at all. Ino tilted her head heavenwards, only to squint under the bright assault of afternoon sun. They had started working in the massive, untended garden since mid-morning, after Kakashi-sensei had arrived three hours late from their fixed meeting time. The owner of the garden, some Young Master Yoshino was to arrive that evening from some western country and a direct order was given for the butler to make the garden, to quote from the scroll that Kakashi-sensei had read to them, "pleasant to the eye, neatly tended and cherished with much love."

…

…

Cherished with much love his ass! Ino muttered more curses and set working again, throwing death glares towards the general direction of a certain jounin, only to be continuously ignored. Sulking, the blonde turned to her task and attacked the weeds with energy that she would rather spend maiming Kakashi-sensei. Or at least, die trying.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm done! Can we go and have ramen now?" the high-pitched voice from her loudmouthed teammate jerked Ino away from her murderous stupor. She blinked and stared down at her weed-filled hands and the garden beds before her. Naruto was right; the blonde boy /had/ finished in record time. Which was understandable for Ino to be absolutely baffled by the fact.

She had never known Naruto to be one that roots for gardening.

Hm… interesting…

The one-eyed jounin snapped his vile book close and jumped down from the fence with experienced grace. He sauntered around the now-clean, 'pleasant to the eye, neatly tended and cherished with much love' garden with appraising gaze and nodded appreciatively. "You've done a good job, Sasuke. Are you sure you didn't want to be a gardener instead?"

The Uchiha survivor growled threateningly at the taunt.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, what about mine?" demanded a pouting Naruto, pointing at his share of work. "I can do better than Sasuke-basta… uh," he swallowed when Ino shot him a pointed half-glare. "Um… /Sasuke/."

The jounin quirked an eyebrow, a curious glint flashing temporarily through his one visible grey eye. He rubbed a thumb along his masked jaw and eyed his students with demanding authority. "You guys are really weird today. No insults from Naruto to Sasuke, and vice versa. And," gasp! "Ino didn't even whack anybody today!" He paused with a dramatic silence and loomed above the genins. "Did you set someone's house on fire?"

Ino, Naruto and Sasuke gaped at their sensei and the random accusation.

"NO!"

"Stupid sensei!"

Growling growl.

Kakashi-sensei grinned and shrugged nonchalantly, as if the combined sound attack did not just made his eardrums ring. "If it wasn't the guilty conscience of partners-in-crime, then did something happen between you three?"

"Nothing that had anything to do with you, pervert sensei," snapped the blonde girl, peeling off her gloves and chucked the soiled pair on top of her pile of weeds. Ino wasn't about to tell Kakashi-sensei of the night when they had linked their lil ol' pinkie fingers and promised the dumb promise. She was dead sure that the smarmy jounin would laugh his perverted ass off if he knew about their little 'peace treaty'. She tossed her head back and cracked her knuckles. "Can we get our pay and go home? I am seriously in need of a bath right now! I smell like cow dung!"

Bags of fertiliser near their feet became the newest victim of Ino's death glare.

The 'change-the-topic-before-Kakashi-sensei-tricked-them-into-telling' tactic didn't seem to work as it should have as the jounin was still frowning at them with that annoyingly scrutinising eye of his. How one eye could bore such deep hole into three genin's hardened consciences (and at the same time too!) was one of the many mysteries that shrouded their twisted reality. Naruto was already fidgeting on his feet, chewing on his bottom lip as if he was resisting the mighty temptation of spewing forth whatsoever events that had happened the night before. Years of being an insufferable loudmouth had taken a toll on his ability to keep secrets from others. But as Kakashi-sensei opened his mouth to deliver… well, whatever it was that he was going to deliver, a sudden explosion erupted in front of them, successfully distracting the Team Seven's instructor.

Kakashi-sensei took a step back and arched an eyebrow coolly.

Ino, Naruto and Sasuke yelped in unison and stumbled back rather clumsily.

"I HAVE ARRIVED, KAKASHI, MY ETERNAL RIVAL!"

The sight that greeted our young genins as the cloud of dust settled down was something that would haunt them forever, even as they have grown into fully-matured, kill-'em-all, kickass shinobi. Even in their most clichéd and grotesque nightmares could not compare to the horribleness of the THING that had unravelled itself in front of them. They were robbed of their vision of happy youth and dancing squirrels, the innocence taken from them by vicious hands of sly Fate in a matter of seconds and could never be returned again, just like those useless little things we bought in a supermarket with the 'Not Returnable' sticker attached to them.

Team Seven was absolutely, completely, ultimately scarred for life.

Because before them, proudly stood the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha.

In all his pink tutu glory.

All hail the greatness that was Maito Gai!

Ino, Naruto and Sasuke did the only sensible thing to do at that time;

They screamed in perfect imitation of torched orang-utans and clawed at their tainted eyes.

Kakashi-sensei, Sharingan or not, had turned into a stone statue in his state of shock.

Fortunately for them, Gai-sensei had the decency to wear the wretched tutu over his stretchy green spandex, instead of prancing around donned only in the sinfully fluorescent pink fabric and fishnet stockings. The proud shinobi twirled in perfect circles with one leg thrust up towards the sky, his hands waving around like a graceful, overgrown, green-and-pink swan. His commercialised bowl-cut hair shone /gleamingly/ under the jealous rays of sunlight, blinding those within twenty feet radius around him with its dazzling brightness. Suspicious as it was, Gai-sensei seemed to have tiny green ribbons dancing merrily on top of his shiny head. Eyes closed and lips puckered, the beautiful beast continued his manly ritual of 'twirling-around-in-circles-and-dizzying-the-heck-out-of-everybody-who's-watching'.

"KAKASHI, I HAVE COME HERE WITH YET ANOTHER CHALLENGE!" the beast bellowed with astounding dignity, twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling and twirling…

… Goddamnit, stop it with the twirling already!

"I HAVE FOUND THE BEAUTY THAT IS," Gai-sensei paused for a dramatic second and twirled so fast that the weeds started gravitating towards him, like he was the centre of a huge cyclone. "BALLET, MY ETERNAL RIVAL! AND I, THE BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA, CHALLENGED YOU, SCOUNDREL SHARINGAN KAKASHI, TO A BALLET DANCE COMPETITION!" He finished off with an extravagant summersault and landed neatly on top of the picket fence, still twirling magnificently.

Kakashi-sensei shook himself out of his stoned stupor and blinked.

"You're wearing a /pink/ tutu," the silver-haired jounin deadpanned, using his unusual 'Serious Face', which looked pretty much like his usual face, sans the curvy eye and masked grin.

The Green Beast stopped twirling at once and clutched at his head, moaning theatrically, "NO! SUCH MODERN RESPONSE! I CANNOT COMPETE WITH THAT!"

"Gai, for the love of it, SHUT UP." Kakashi-sensei sighed and scratched his nose, glancing at his corrupted students. They were too young to experience the cruel, cruel reality and the jounin truly felt pity towards their current suffering. But then again… the kids never respected him in the first place, so screw the pity. He released another deep sigh and turned to stare (yes, oh mighty Leaf, he endured the staring! Never shall it be said that the great Sharingan Kakashi is afraid of the pink tutu! Never!) at his bordering-insanity colleague. "What's the score now?"

Revitalised from his depressed state, Gai-sensei did a twirl and answered, "54 TO 53, YOU CHEATING SCOUNDREL! THE RAMEN CHALLENGE WAS FAR FROM BEING FAIR; YOU LEFT ME WITH NOODLES INSIDE MY NOSTRILS! OH, THE SHAME! THE HUMILIATION!"

"I told you I was late for a meeting with the Hokage."

Ino, shielding her eyes from Gai-sensei's presence, squinted at Naruto and snapped, "Who the hell is Mr. Weirdo over there?" Part of her apparent bad/foul mood was because she had been ignored (again!) in favour of some ballet-infatuated lout. That definitely brushed the wrong side of her female ego.

"Why're you asking me? It figures that Kakashi's friends are crazy, like /him/." the blond boy retorted, inching towards a rose bush to hide himself. He almost walked into a miniature pond as he had covered his eyes with his hands and obviously couldn't see where he was actually going. Had Ino been less considerate and more cruel, she would've just sit back and watch the boy plunge into the pond and laugh her pert ass off but her conscience made her held out a hand and stopped the boy in time.

"Don't walk with your eyes closed, whisker face, unless you're a Hyuuga or you have psychic power, which both I doubt you'd possess anywhere near future with that level of IQ." Ino sniggered at the affronted look on Naruto's face and patted the spiky head teasingly.

Naruto swatted the offending hand away, pouting at his teammate. "I know exactly where I was heading to, Ino-chan!" He glanced towards the general direction of his sensei and the strange, pink-tutu-wearing, thick-browed, green creature. The blond boy grimaced and looked away almost at once. "Far away from those two madcap. Please."

"Hn."

"Sasuke," the only girl in Team Seven frowned and turned to face the Uchiha survivor, who was oh, so macho-ly lurking behind a dense undergrowth near them. Of course he's not afraid of the tutu-wearing madman, he's the great, the one and only, Uchiha Sasuke, dammit! When Gai-sensei gave another passionate exclamation ("AH, THE SPRING OF OUR YOUTH!"), Sasuke visibly cringed and shrunk further into his safe haven, oblivious of thorns poking at his ass.

Okay, so /maybe/ he was a bit… er, intimidated. Who wouldn't? It's Gai (pink tutu or not) we're talking about here!

"Sasuke," Ino repeated, still frowning at the stoic boy. "Don't join a conversation if the only response you're going to contribute are 'Hn's and 'Dobe's; it's mentally aggravating. And I forgot to tell you that growling is in the same style of speech as grunting. So no growling from now on."

"Ch'."

"And that ruled out snorting too." The girl sighed exasperatedly and glared at her dark-haired teammate. "Honestly, don't tell me you can't form a complete sentence now. I've heard you speak more than three words before."

Naruto scrunched up his face and sneered, "Maybe ickle Uchi-chan didn't want to spoil his /perfect/ reputation, being Mute Extraordinaire and all."

"Shut up, dobe."

"Right, one more word and you'll break today's record!" Ino mock-cheered, smirking at Sasuke. "You know, usually I'd say that this is a petty way to get back to you but it's kinda fun. Maybe we should do this more often."

Naruto clapped and laughed loudly. "You go, Ino-chan!"

Sasuke looked pissed enough to actually make the effort and Gokakyuu his teammates into oblivion. But, as it was a rule not to murder your own teammates and breaking such rule will only result in many unpleasant reactions such as psychiatrist visits and the dreaded "— we know you're emotionally unbalanced because your brother went haywire and take the piss on your parents, yada, yada—" bullshit. Nope, no way he was going to endure the same thing over again. Especially when he had to fake those tears in front of the Hokage, being supposedly sorrowful and guilt-stricken after having lived through such tragic past. Drama was /so/ not his thing. Sasuke even suspected that his psychiatrist have been trying experimental/illegal drugs on him; he seemed to be getting more depressed and angst-ridden lately, instead of going all happy-go-pukey after each session.

Not that he want to go around like a doped bunny, of course.

So Sasuke, being typical Sasuke, simply said, "I'm going home." And turned around with the very intention to do so.

But Ino, being typical Ino, tried to stop him. "Chouji told me about this great barbeque restaurant not far from here." She paused like she had just dropped a hint that Kakashi-sensei was going to marry Sandaime and was waiting for the appropriate uproar as a response.

And Naruto, being typical Naruto, perked up at the mention of food. "Really? Where?" Was it possible that he was secretly related to the Akimichi Family?

"Three blocks down the south road."

"I'm going home."

"Do they have ramen there?"

"Are you listening? I said I'm going home."

"Naruto, people go to a barbeque restaurant to have barbeque, not ramen. Which part of barbeque that you don't understand?"

"I'm leaving."

"Well, I don't understand the 'are there any ramen there?' part."

"That's it. Goodbye."

"We're not having ramen /again/; you had five bowls for breakfast. What did my mom tell you about nutritional food?"

"… Aren't you going to try and stop me?"

"But Ino-chan! I wanna eat ramen!"

"Am I being ignored here?"

"Bloody hell, shut up about the ramen already!"

"Ramen! Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!"

"NARUTO, SHUT UP!"

"I am being ignored, aren't I?"

"SASUKE, SHUT UP!"

Both boys took the warning and instantly clamped their respective mouths shut.

Ino was perspiring rather heavily and was on the verge of breathing out fire.

"We. Are. All. Going. To. The. Barbeque. Restaurant. To. Eat. Barbeque." The words were spat out so venomously by the petite blonde girl that it would've shamed even the traitor Snake Sannin, made him confess his horrid crimes (killing, thieving out on new jutsus, being a frickin' perverted paedophile, etc) and live the rest of his life as Jiraiya's personal masseur-cum-model for shampoo and mascara commercials.

For the sake of yours and my sanity, people, please murder your mental images right now.

"I SEE THAT YOU HAVE A BLOOMING BEAUTY INSIDE YOUR LITTLE TEAM, KAKASHI! HOW REFRESHING, TO SEE THE SPRINGS OF THEIR YOUTHS—"

There was more but who wants to listen to the rest of this bullshit, anyway?

It is to be noted that while our three heroes and heroine were too busy trying to verbally rip at each other's throats, Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei had moved closer to their location; the silver-haired jounin having spotted possible source/victims to distract Gai-sensei from forcing him to wear a tutu in one of their more moronic challenges yet, being the almighty genius that he was. And thus, Kakashi-sensei, having convinced himself that it was indeed a good plan to use his students as baits and escape while Gai-sensei was occupied with scarring the kids, didn't realise the impending volcanic eruption from one Yamanaka Ino and it would be jolted down in history as one of the few mistakes (big-ass ones, but few indeed) that Sharingan Kakashi, One-eyed Shinobi Extraordinaire had ever made. The only warning that Kakashi-sensei get was a more-deathly-than-usual glare and Naruto and Sasuke's similar horrified expression.

Damn.

It took all twenty years of experience in facing Death (in the forms of homicidal missing nins with massive swords, vengeful Orochimaru wannabes, rabid fangirls, etc) and surviving for the jounin not to flee on the spot. His survival instinct was flashing frantic warning signs, bells going berserk inside his head. His fingers twitched ever so slightly to form the fancy teleportation jutsu that all jounins were so fond of but his pride denied him of such cowardly way to escape his doom. Kakashi-sensei swallowed /hard/ and fight down a whimper from escaping his throat. Sharingan Kakashi did /not/ do /whimpers/. Only cowards whimper. Not him. Nope, definitely not him. The silver-haired jounin raised both hands up in a defensive stance and took a step back from his only female disciple. Behind him, he noticed that Gai had stopped twirling and was copying his exact movement.

Heh, so even the beast knew when to stop, huh?

"Uh… Ino-chan?" Kakashi-sensei began tentatively, fingers a-twitching. "Are you okay?"

The flames inside her pair of blue eyes almost/almost/ made the jounins abandon his dignity and fled. Ino narrowed her eyes and retorted sharply, "Of course I'm alright! Absolutely /peachy/ right now!" Her voice was so high-pitched that it made the four male shinobi around her winced simultaneously. She grabbed Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei (before they could escape unharmed) and shot a later-to-be-patented 500 Megawatt Death Glare at her immobilized teammates. "I've had enough of this shit! I can't take it anymore! We're all going to have lunch together, and I expect each and every one of you to act like a decent human being! No ramen, no grunting and NO PORN!"

TBC 

Review or… well, I'm running out of threats. Can I use Puppy Eyes no Jutsu instead?

**Kaara**


	10. Rhapsody

**Title:** Between Sun and Moon.

**By:** Kaara.

**Disclaimer:** … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

**Warning: **Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

Miss me? I missed YOU! (tackle-glomp combo!)

Is finally inspired to write this chapter by GenocideHeart's latest instalment of 'Twisted Fate'. And also after rereading 'Black Destiny' and 'Foxhound' for the gazillionth times.

And to **cevgar**-san, I demand a two page review as a late Christmas gift!

Enjoy, dearest!

xxx

**Chapter Ten: Rhapsody**

xxx

It was a pleasantly sunny morning, with the sweet smell of blooming flowers drifting lazily in the air and the chirps of birds resounding around Konoha.

A morning that should be enjoyed with loved ones, beautiful and peaceful as it was.

However, being an antithesis of normalcy as she was, one Yamanaka Ino was currently very much pissed off.

"There must be more in being a ninja than weeding some rich sod's garden," the platinum blonde snapped, chewing vindictively on her sausage as she waved a hand in wild gestures. Team Seven was sitting (well, Ino and Naruto sat, while Sasuke leaned against a tree closest to them) inside the training ground, where Kakashi-sensei had promised to meet them exactly at eight. He was currently two and a quarter hour late, which meant that they still have another fifteen minutes to kill. They were starting to enjoy the three hours of team-bonding by now, though quarrels or the occasional fights broke out during those times. Ino turned to direct her wrath towards Naruto, who was happily digging in the breakfast bento that Saeki had prepared for him. "I can't believe that I'm going to spend my entire genin year doing measly works when everyone else is out there kicking butts. We can handle higher-ranked missions, right?"

Naruto swallowed the remains of his scrambled egg and nodded vigorously. "Of course you're right, Ino-chan."

He had known better than to argue with the girl, especially after their 'forced lunch' experience. It was downright scary to see Ino in the midst of her homicidal fury, when even seasoned jounins like Kakashi and Gai could do nothing but to meekly follow her in a tow towards the barbeque restaurant. The food itself was excellent, just like what she had told them, but the atmosphere had been a tad too hostile for his taste. Ino kept jabbing at the pieces of meat with this malicious grin on her face, before glaring at the group of men and boys accompanying her as if indicating that she would treat them just like the barbequed meat if they did not do her bidding. The unspoken threat was perfectly understood by them and they got through lunch in a quiet, almost civilised manner. Even Sasuke had not uttered a word of disgruntlement.

Naruto shuddered at the memory; Ino's mood had improved since then, but she was still scary.

"Look at us," she shot an exasperated look at Sasuke, and slapped her bandaged thigh with her free hand to emphasise her point. "We're waiting for our sensei, who is always late and a shameless pervert, with nothing to look forward to except for a list of more stupid missions."

"But Iruka-sensei said that genins didn't get to do any real mission until we got promoted," Naruto said, closing the bento box and tossed it towards Ino. "Thanks for the breakfast anyway, and tell your mom that it's really good."

"Everything edible is good to you," muttered Ino, loud enough to be heard by practically everyone. She placed Naruto's and her own boxes into her backpack, before turning to stare expectantly at Sasuke. "Well, what do you think?"

The dark-haired Uchiha merely shrugged. "He's a pig after all."

Ino clamped down a hand onto Naruto's shoulder to stop the boy from jumping Sasuke then and there, before shaking her head. "No, not about Naruto's eating habit. I mean, do you think that we should get tougher mission than babysitting and tending gardens?"

A light shade of pink coloured Sasuke's cheeks for a split second, before returning to its old pasty complexion. "Oh, that. Sure."

"Sure what?" she sighed at Sasuke's inability to string a proper sentence. Being a proclaimed genius as he was, he should've realised that he was required to make sense once in a while. She could not afford to waste her free times deciphering his half-assed sentences. "Sure we should, or sure we shouldn't?"

"Sure we should," said Uchiha mumbled crossly, as if aware of the thought that had crossed Ino's mind. He shifted from his position by the tree and regarded the blonde girl with a dark frown. "What's so important about this? You complained before, but not to this extent."

"I'm touched that you actually took notice of my existence," Ino flashed him a sickeningly sweet smile and batted her eyelashes in mock flirtation. Heaving yet another sigh (Naruto lost count at 20), she hugged her slender legs to her chest and rested her chin on top of her knees. "Dad just went back from the Hidden Mist, and he was telling me about that village. I could just picture the place from his description, but what I want to do is to go there myself on missions, like he does. I don't want to be stuck in Konoha for my entire life."

Sasuke's frown softened at the sight of her petulant pout. "You won't."

"I damn well hope not!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed loudly. Grinning at the astonished expression on Ino's face, he gave her a thumb up and confidently said, "Don't worry! When Kakashi-sensei got here, we'll just force him to give us tougher missions!"

"You're going to force who to give you tougher missions?"

"GAAHHH!"

Naruto jumped back in surprise, narrowly avoiding a collision with an equally-shocked Ino. Kakashi had materialised out of nowhere for the umpteenth time, though he had not announced his arrival with a cloud of grey smoke like before. Waving nonchalantly at his speechless students with the look of intense boredom etched onto his masked face, the jounin drawled out, "If I was an enemy, you would've been dead by now."

"I didn't even realize that you were there!" shouted Naruto in defence, scowling at Kakashi-sensei.

From the look on Sasuke's face, neither did he.

Kakashi lifted a finger and simply said, "And until you do, you'll still be a genin."

"What's with the early sermon?" Ino interjected. She had both her hands hooked on her hip. "The Hokage finally realised that you're useless and fired you?"

"Ah… Ino," the grey-headed menace turned his creepy one-eyed smile at her. The platinum blonde wisely took a step back. "Nice to see you too. Did you wake up at the wrong side of the bed today?"

"At least I woke up early and got here on time," she retorted, cocking her head towards the jounin. "Unlike /someone/ that I know…"

Said jounin ignored her last comment and spun to address his last two students. "We're going to do a bit of a training today, seeing that you're getting out of shape."

"Hey, I'm not getting out of shape!" cried Naruto indignantly, shaking a fist at his grinning teacher.

Sasuke snorted and raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "Says the pig."

"You bastard! Take that back!"

Before the two could wage an all-out-war, Ino smacked them back into senses, leaving behind two identical bumps on both boys' heads.

Kakashi sighed at his only female student's violent tendencies and grinned in sympathy at Naruto and Sasuke. "You guys should really get a good insurance policy by now."

"As well as a brain transplant," Ino spat out, rubbing her knuckles with an evil glint in her eyes that promised more pain in the future.

"Forget insurance," mumbled Kakashi, carefully scooting away from the murderous aura that was radiating from Ino. "I know a good coffin maker around here. He'll give you thirty percent off if you're killed by a ninja."

"Sasuke started it," whined Naruto and glared at the Uchiha, who was also nursing his abused head.

The dark-haired boy returned the glare, though triple in intensity from the 'I-Hate-You-So-Much-That-I-Wish-You'd-Drop-Dead' Scale.

"So… shall we begin our training session for today?"

**xxx**

Ino waited as Kakashi instructed Naruto and Sasuke to engage in a match, tapping one of her sandaled feet onto the ground impatiently. There was something mightily annoying about the way the grey-headed jounin conduct his students; like he was expecting them to absorb his every words like a dry sponge and be able to process it on their own. She had heard that he was a genius of somewhat, but in truth, the jounin was one hell of a crappy teacher. Whenever Kakashi explained a technical detail concerning a certain jutsu or techniques, he always had this sense of obviousness in his voice, as if they should have known what he meant before he said it. That, and his infamous 'look underneath the underneath' crap. Would it kill him to be bloody straightforward? In one occasion, Ino had to explain to Naruto the whole concept of properly channelling chakra to his tenketsu, after the boy shyly confided to her that he didn't understand what Kakashi was talking about.

It seemed that the great Sharingan Kakashi was not as perfect as the rumours said.

Hmph. Just her luck to be stuck with him.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the jounin in question happily sauntered towards her, glancing back once as Naruto multiplied generously and started attacking Sasuke. "Remind me to tell Naruto not to rely too much on his Kage Bunshin; he's getting too attached to a certain assault pattern."

The blonde girl nodded her head thoughtfully. "And it will be easy for his opponent to predict what he's going to do next, right?"

"Quite an accurate observation, Ino," Kakashi congratulated, his one visible eye curving into a crescent. He brought out a kunai and tossed it towards Ino, who caught the weapon with practiced reflex. "Now, do you understand why I decided to separate you from the two boys back there?"

A sudden explosion distracted Ino for a split second, as she witnessed a giant fireball decimating a huge number of Naruto's clones. Realising that her teacher was expecting an answer, she turned her attention back to the jounin and grinned apologetically. "Um… what was that again?"

Kakashi sighed, one hand rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Lesson number one; do not get distracted during missions and fights. It can cost you not only your life, but the lives of the people that are working with you."

"Sorry, sensei," the girl mumbled, her cheeks reddening. "Won't happen again."

"You had better make sure of that, Ino. I'd hate to have an incomplete team." Kakashi patted her head and smiled. "And I'm sure Naruto and Sasuke will somehow blame it on me, and then, I'll have two megalomaniac teenagers out for my hide."

Ino giggled at the faked horror on her teacher's face. "Not to mention the fact that I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Yes, that too," nodded the jounin. He waved a hand to indicate that their little banter was over and stared pointedly at the blonde. "Anyway, do you have any idea what I'm going to ask you to do?"

"Sensei, I might be a Yamanaka, but I sure as hell am not clairvoyant," Ino retorted, feeling the old annoyance that she had towards Kakashi-sensei growing again.

The grey-headed shinobi slipped out another kunai and held it in front of her face. "Well, we're going to do something different today. I figured that having you three sparring against each other will just be a waste of time since one of you would've had to stay out when the other two is fighting. I do not tolerate such waste of time."

The platinum blonde snorted and narrowed her eyes at Kakashi. "Then, what do you call the three hours that we had spent waiting for you every single day?"

"That three hours?" Kakashi winked at her and said, "It's for team bonding. Useful, isn't it?" Without waiting for Ino's answer (which would have been somewhere along the line of extremely sarcastic or plain sharp), he continued with his impromptu lecture. "I want you to concentrate in improving your accuracy with thrown weapons. I don't expect you to be perfect; Kami knows what'll happen to me if you managed to do so, but I anticipated that you'll be able to hit the targets by today."

"Where are the targets?" Ino craned her neck in the attempt to see any object that could resemble a practice target. Kakashi's creepy one-eyed smile warned the girl of the impending danger. "Sensei?"

"Naruto and Sasuke."

Ino knitted her brows in confusion. "What about them?"

The creepy smile widened. "They are your targets."

"WHAT?" the blonde gawked at her teacher, brain furiously trying to process the information. This must be one of his damned 'look underneath the underneath's. "But… but they're moving! And fighting against each other! That big ass fireball from Sasuke could kill me if I get too close!"

"Do you think that the enemies are going to stand in the middle of the battlefield and do nothing while you kill them?"

"Of course not! But…"

"I'll give you an hour. I've already briefed them about what you're supposed to do and one person will be punished when the time's up. It's either the boy that you struck out or you, for failing to complete the task," Kakashi drawled on, ignoring the glare of utter indignation from Ino. He grinned and wriggled his fingers at the furious girl. "I've got other things to do. Bye."

With that, he disappeared into the trademark cloud of smoke.

Ino blinked and began making a mental list of the horrible, horrible things that she's going to do to Kakashi once he reappeared.

Grumbling to herself, Ino stomped towards her two sparring team mates and stood just a few feet away from them, appraising the situation. The first few lessons that Iruka-sensei had stressed on was to know your opponent's and your own limit. Never jump into a fight that is way above your level, and never underestimate an enemy. To her surprise, Naruto and Sasuke were quite advanced, being genins as they were. One had mastered Kage Bunshin, while another knew Gokakyuu. Impressive. Of course, Sasuke was an Uchiha after all, with a clan full of dead overachievers. But Naruto… he was the class clown, the infamous dead last. How did he learn the jounin-level jutsu? More importantly, who could've had the time and motivation to teach the jutsu to Naruto?

She would have to punch/bribe that information out of the boy later.

_Focus,_ Ino chastised herself mentally, reaching a hand into her weaponry pouch. _I'm not going to be the one facing Kakashi-sensei's wrath later._

xxx

Kakashi's visible eye curved cheerfully as he faced his students, after popping out of nowhere after his allocated one hour. "I can see that nobody killed anybody. How did training go?"

"I hate Ino-chan," Naruto declared childishly, bandaging his right leg.

Sasuke glared at the girl and muttered spitefully, "Make that two of us."

Ino shrugged from her place next to the grinning Kakashi-sensei, unperturbed by her team mates' reaction. "It's not my fault that you're both pathetic. Besides, there's no rule stating that I can only attack one of you."

"Ino's right, you know," the grey-haired jounin chimed in, amusement dancing in his eye. "Care to tell me how you accomplished the impossible, Ino?"

The blonde girl giggled cheekily and squared her shoulders, grinning at the sulking boys. "Well, you did tell me that Naruto's movement becomes predictable after some time, so I just have to wait when he's on the defensive side. It's easier said than done, though, because he kept on bouncing around avoiding those little fireballs that Sasuke spat out. But while I was waiting for the right moment, I realized that Sasuke was also moving with this distinct pattern."

"I did not," grunted the Uchiha from somewhere to her left.

"Let me finish," snapped Ino, scowling at said boy. "So, as I was saying, even Sasuke became surprisingly predictable after some time. I realized that he often avoided to his right whenever Naruto punched or kicked him, before following up with a spin or a high kick. I dunno how I noticed; it just came to me, I guess. I made a bunshin, moved to the other side of the field discreetly and waited. When Naruto showed a little slip when Sasuke kicked him back, I ordered my bunshin to throw a kunai towards Naruto. As I expected, when Sasuke saw the kunai struck Naruto, he quickly moved to his right. And that was when I attacked him with my own kunai."

Kakashi clapped his hand against her shoulder appreciatively. "You have a keen sense of observation, Ino. And you've also exceeded my expectation."

"Aw, you don't need to compliment me," the blonde girl exclaimed in a strangely pleased voice, her lips stretched into a wide grin. "You're making me embarrassed."

"It's not fair!" yelled Naruto, jumping up onto his two feet. "I was preoccupied with Sasuke-bastard!"

Ino flashed him another one of her wide grins. "You can't use that excuse forever, you know."

"It was a mere miscalculation," Sasuke silently offered his piece of mind, still wearing that dark frown as he stared at Ino. "And I almost deflected the kunai."

"The keyword here is 'almost'," the girl retorted coolly, refusing to be intimidated by Sasuke's apparent fury.

Their jounin sensei effectively put a stop on whatever war they were about to engage in by cuffing both boys' head. Ducking from the oncoming attacks from said boys, Kakashi said loudly, "I was summoned to the Hokage Tower today." He flipped over as Naruto tried to impale a newly-sharpened kunai into his arm. "And I was told that we have a mission." Sasuke almost hit him with an axe kick, though the jounin simply sidestepped the attack. "C-Rank, I heard."

The attack ceased immediately.

"That's great!" Naruto started doing a weird war dance, hooting and howling ecstatically. "Woohoo! A C-Rank mission!"

Sasuke, though he said nothing, was actually pretty pleased. Weeding garden wouldn't help him to surpass his missing brother, after all.

Ino was instantly suspicious. She said nothing though, because she knew better than to burst the extremely happy bubble that Naruto was in at that time. They followed Kakashi with the air of overflowing glee (mostly attributed to the blond, war-dancing git), sandaled feet trudging lightly on the gravelled path as they headed towards the looming tower in the middle of Konoha. Once convinced that Naruto and Sasuke would not notice her absence, Ino slowed her pace and fall in steps with Kakashi, who had whipped out his infamous book of dirty porn and was reading it with customary patches of red colouring his masked cheeks. The platinum blonde glanced warily at her two team mates, before staring pointedly at his appear-to-be-innocent teacher, which told her that he was completely on the opposite.

Deceiving asshole.

"You angled for the mission, didn't you?" it was more of an accusation, instead of a normal question. "Did you bribe or blackmail Sandaime-sama?"

Kakashi blinked his one visible eye and turned the page of his orange book. "I have no idea of what you're talking about."

"Bullshit," Ino hissed under her breath, grinning like a sly cat at the jounin. "Iruka-sensei wouldn't allow Naruto to take on a C-Rank mission. Not this early, anyway. And don't give me the crap about the Hokage acknowledging our potential as a team; we barely scraped through. So it must be you."

The man shook his head and chuckled silently. "Why can't you just be as gullible as Naruto, Ino?"

"You flatter me," she sniped, before the mock scowl was replaced by a grateful smile. "Aa, thanks. For believing in us."

The jounin turned to another page and kept the smile to himself as Ino raced forward, laughing along with Naruto and grinning gallantly at an unusually smiling Sasuke.

That Yamanaka girl was indeed something else.

He would've to thank Iruka later for chucking her into his team.

xxx

But of course, the excitement considerably died down when Team Seven realised what their much-anticipated C-Rank mission was all about.

"These three brats are going to protect me?" the old man critically eyed Naruto, before backing off and grunted in disdain. "They don't look capable to even defend themselves."

Iruka-sensei's polite smile seemed to be a bit more forced than usual.

Ino bristled at the comment, annoyed that he had the nerve to imply that she was weak. She'll show him who's weak! Before the blonde girl or Iruka-sensei could say anything, the Hokage himself sashayed into the spacious floor, donning his usual ghastly attire that made him look ten years older than he actually was. The old man tilted his angular hat-thing and addressed the rude old man politely, "Tazuna-san, I understand your doubt, but I assure you that it is unnecessary."

The 'Tazuna' person snorted. "How am I supposed to feel secure when I'm in the hand of those kids?"

"They are certified genins of Konoha," the Hokage calmly explained. "And their jounin sensei will come along to supervise. There's no need for worry."

Tired of being ignored, Naruto jumped into the conversation. "Hey, we're good enough to take this mission!"

"I don't trust any of you," the old man snapped, taking a swig from the bottle in his hand. "Especially the shortest one."

The three genins exchanged stares for a few seconds, an invisible line dotted meticulously just above each respective heads.

Naruto screamed in fury a split second later.

Ino raised an eyebrow in distaste. Knowing her crummy luck, she should've anticipated this sort of outcome. With a hand straining Naruto from mauling their prospective client (she had been doing that so much lately, that she felt her muscles had developed), she directed her most unnerving glare at Tazuna, grey blue eyes blazing threateningly. "You better watch what you're saying, old man, because you can never judge a book by its cover."

"That's so… corny," she heard Sasuke mutter under his breath behind her, before elbowing said boy's gut.

The Uchiha winced in pain and retaliated by kicking her shin.

Iruka-sensei stood from his chair and planted both hands firmly on the table. "Please believe in them, Tazuna-san. If we feel that they can take the responsibility, than they are ready."

The man rubbed his nose, before shrugging. "It's up to you, then. All I know is that I better arrive safely."

Kakashi nodded and turned to his team. "Alright, I give you thirty minutes to pack. Bring only necessities and we'll regroup at the front gate. Don't be late."

"But I can't pack all my clothes and makeup in thirty minutes!" Ino cried out, inviting a collection of huge sweat drop suspending from everyone's heads.

"You just cut your packing time into half just for saying that, Ino," the jounin announced cheerfully. "See you in fifteen minutes."

**TBC**

Review or I'll spit furballs towards you for the rest of your life. RAWR!

**Kaara**


	11. Incubus

Title: Between Sun and Moon.

By: Kaara.

Disclaimer: … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Warning: Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

My insomnia kicked in again, and there was nothing else to do after downing cups of strong tea anyway. And with the uploading of this chapter, **Kaze-kun**, you've lost our deal. Wait for it, dear.

Enjoy.

xxx

**Chapter Eleven: Incubus**

xxx

Ino grumpily launched herself off another rooftop, landing gracefully onto another as she made her way back, mindful of the annoyed yells resounding from the none-too-cooperative house owners. It was rumoured that there had been some sort of a petition going around Konoha, founded by ungrateful landlords complaining that shinobi should be banned from using their roofs as a mean of short cut to whatever destination that they were heading to. There were incidents after all; several inexperienced genins falling into a midst of family dinner from a gaping hole that looked suspiciously like it was made by an ill-used explosion tag and other degrading occurrences that shall never be said in front of a self-respecting shinobi of Konoha.

But of course, the much-esteemed Sandaime had successfully negotiated with the irate landlords and the dreaded petition was never to be mentioned again.

The platinum blonde girl suspected that it had something to do with shinobi on strike.

Inoshi had complained one too many times about unappreciative villagers to her.

Rooftops, apparently, were sacred to shinobi.

After another "Get the hell off my roof, you brat!" (which resulted in a rather graphic use of middle finger from Ino's part), Ino finally caught sight of her two-storey house and leapt hastily towards her opened window. She had wasted a valuable amount of time (approximately three minutes and fifteen seconds, give or take one second) in arguing with Kakashi-sensei about his rather crude approach to her delicate feminine needs. Of course, he didn't buy her excuse for the importance of her make-up kit ("Facial alteration, Ino-chan? Surely a simple Henge can suffice for the time being.") and it made matters worse when Naruto decided to butt into her crumbling argument; the delusional git actually thought that he was helping her ("But I'm sure Ino-chan will look _hideous_ without her make-ups!").

She was pretty convinced that Naruto had been rendered impotent from her rather vicious kick to his balls.

Sasuke had wisely disappeared when she looked for someone else to vent her wrath on.

As soon as her sandaled feet touched the cool linoleum floor soundlessly, Ino had to duck under a large saucepan that was aimed for her head, crouching on all four as said saucepan flew out of the window and hit an unsuspecting genin, who had also been travelling via rooftops. If anyone heard an undignified shriek coming from their garden, it had been thoroughly ignored. The good people of Konoha were too accustomed to such incidents. Ino grinned sheepishly at a pair of feet clad in feather slippers and looked up at the rumpled woman in a pink, fluffy terry cloth, dark hair unlike hers piled up into a messy bun.

Ino smiled disarmingly at Saeki and held up her hands in defence.

"Morning, Mum."

Sleep-deprived eyes squinted for a split second, before recognition dawned onto the fair, if a tad paler than usual, face. Saeki lowered the meat cleaver in her other hand and grunted noncommittally at her yet-to-be-amputated daughter. "S'that you, 'No?"

"Yeah," the girl straightened up and brushed a stray lock of hair back into place, regarding her mother with calculated vigilance. Her mother was notoriously known for her 'attack first, question later' principal regarding intruders. "I thought Dad told you to stay in bed. Sans kitchen apparels."

Saeki grunted again and sat heavily down onto Ino's bed, the mattress creaking in protest as she did so. "I was; the migraine's killing me. Until I heard some noises from your room and decided to check them out."

It was once said (most probably by a drunken Inoshi) that her mother had been the top kunoichi of her class when she was in the Ninja Academy (guess the inherited trait was a bit obvious there), with special interest in projectile weapons and enemy detection. It was also said that Inoshi had lost a large chunk of his trademark ponytail when he tried to persuade Saeki for a date, due to her rather volatile temper (another inherited trait) and his lack of tact. It was only because of Grandma's untimely death that Saeki didn't follow her ninja path, concentrating instead on the art of commercial botany to pursue her late mother's business, though it seemed that she had never lost her proficiency with what she had learnt in the Academy.

Her father was the constant, if not unfortunate, evidence for that.

"We've got a mission in the Wave Country," Ino explained, hurriedly shoving random articles of clothing into a duffel bag as she hazarded around her room, critically looking at every prospective items that could be of any use in said mission. The new set of kunai and shuriken that she had bought with her first pay clanked rather noisily on top of her bottle of cologne, followed shortly by a small box of acupuncture needles and a navy, long-sleeved shirt. "I might be away for some time, two days or less."

Saeki sniffled and rubbed her forehead. "What rank?"

Ino stopped in the middle of deciding between a white pair of shorts or black pants and stared at the older woman in confusion. "What?"

"The mission," Saeki impatiently gestured with the menacing-looking meat cleaver. "What rank is it?"

"C-Rank." Ino saw the immediate changes on her mother's face and scowled darkly. Sometimes, she wished that her mother wouldn't be so overprotective towards her. She's not five-year old anymore. "We just have to accompany this old man to the Wave Country and then go back. Besides, Kakashi-sensei will be tagging along so you don't need to be worried about us."

The dark-haired woman said nothing, though it was clear the she was pretty much indignant.

Ino silently prayed that her mother wouldn't think of attacking Sandaime for that.

Upon chucking the last item into the bag (Kakashi-sensei's permission or not, the make-up kit shall prevail!), Ino securely fastened the knots and slung the bag over her shoulder. She kissed her mother on both cheeks and said with a wide grin, "I'll be back before you know it."

Saeki smiled at the girl and waved her goodbye as Ino lumbered out of the room (through the door this time) and disappeared from view.

The smile was instantly replaced by an apprehensive frown.

Somehow, her maternal instinct told her otherwise.

xxx

"He said fifteen minutes! That perverted, grey-headed, no good sod!"

Ino's hyperventilating session was punctuated by a heavy sigh and her butt crashing down onto the hard ground, duffel bag thrown carelessly next to her immobile form. Said grey-headed sod was nowhere to be found, as the gate was deserted except for the patrolling guards (who have enough sense to stay away from the incensed blonde, lest they have death wishes), an equally pissed-off Naruto and a silent-as-usual Sasuke. The sky was exceptionally clear, with occasional cottons of white clouds drifting lazily across the blue stretch in an infinity race of which could be the slowest one possible. Ino sighed again, covering her closed eyes with the back of an arm and inhaled the scent of pine and foresty mint from nearby woodland.

It had been a pretty tiring morning so far, both physically and mentally. Their brief sparring session reminded Ino of how much she had been left behind by her teammates, knowing for one that both of them have their own field of expertise. Sasuke was indeed the most formidable between the three, with his quick reflexes, analytical mind and knowledge of jutsus that extended far beyond what was taught in the Academy. She doubted that Iruka-sensei was to be credited for those fancy fire-type jutsus that Sasuke seemed so fond of. Ino knew that it would take more than hard work in order to be in the same level as the arrogant Uchiha, and a miracle to surpass him in the short time that they have.

And Naruto… let's just say that after seeing the boy performing a jounin level jutsu (she had doggedly asked Kakashi-sensei about it since she saw Naruto's Kage Bunshin in the Bells Test), she was certain that his honorary 'Dead Last' title was no more than a misnomer. And Sasuke had grossly underestimated Naruto, no matter how stupid or obstinate the spiky-headed boy can get during battle. What Naruto needed was a proper teacher than can calm him down a bit (so that he can start using his rotting brain) and provoke him with the correct tact in order for him to abandon his recklessness. Inoshi had once told her that unbidden haste could be the death of a shinobi, as their lives were dependant upon a split second of decisions.

Ino had the nagging worry that Kakashi-sensei was doing the complete opposite.

And Sasuke's superior-ness was also a no-help situation.

Despite their little peace agreement, it was absolutely impossible to stop the two boys from chewing their heads off. It was as if they were born with a gargantuan grudge against each other (they might have been mortal enemies in their past lifetimes or something from the way they went on and on), and no one felt the responsibility to make them stop. Frankly, it came across as odd (and annoying as hell) to Ino, as she was quite sure that Sasuke had done a marvellous job in ignoring Naruto (as well as everyone else in the goddamn universe!) when they were still in the academy. Sasuke was just a quiet guy that got periodically swamped by his fangirls, while Naruto was the remorseless Class Clown that would someday be the death of Iruka-sensei. Why start arguing when they were placed in the team?

Hm…

Now that she'd thought about it, that was certainly a very suspicious subject.

Some scuffling sound shattered through the confusing maze of her monologue, before someone plopped down noisily besides her. Naruto's voice confirmed the identity of the unknown person. "Ne, Ino-chan?"

Without lifting her arm, Ino growled out a petulant "What?", rather annoyed at Naruto for his disturbance, particularly after his uncalled-for statement regarding her supposedly hideousness.

"You remember the money that we get for cleaning that garden the other day?"

"Uh huh," she finally sat up, unable to understand where this conversation was heading to. Much to her surprise, Naruto's whiskered cheeks were lightly dusted with red and he was fidgeting with his head protector. "What about it?"

The spiky-headed boy flashed Ino a crooked grin, before drawing out a small black box from his orange jacket. He placed it into Ino's outstretched hand (which was going to strangle him if he said something stupid in the first place) and said, rather nervously, "I saw it on display in one of those old-fashioned shops and… I dunno, I just thought that you'd like it."

Too stunned for words, Ino lifted the lid of the box and tried to peer through the thin layer of cotton that obscured whatever it was hidden inside its depth. She noticed that Naruto was still squirming, as if he was waiting for a death sentence, while Sasuke seemed to be closer to them than he was a minute ago. Poking a finger into the box, she could feel the cool surface of metal under her fingertip and arched a slim eyebrow at the sensation. When the cotton was removed and the prize revealed, it took all her willpower not to squeal in girlish delight and (God forbid!) hug Naruto then and there.

"This is… beautiful," Ino stammered out, carefully lifting the delicate silver chain and stared at the small pendant, an image of twining roses artfully engraved on shimmering silver. She turned to Naruto and smiled, touched by the sudden display of affection from said boy. Nobody outside of her circle of family had ever given her a non-birthday present before. Sniff. "I love it."

Naruto's cheeks turned a deeper shade of red at the declaration. "Um, it didn't cost much…"

"I absolutely love it," Ino repeatedly insisted, fingers closing around the little gift. His statement from earlier easily forgiven, the girl silently gazed at the fine chain and the pretty pendant, her grey-blue eyes twinkled with flashes of silver as rays of sunlight cast myriad of different hues on the trinket. She looked at Naruto with unmasked gratefulness and handed the necklace to the boy, hands stretched back to lift the curtain of hair from her slender neck. "I want you to help me wear it." She winked mischievously at the boy. "After all, I'm expecting more gifts from you in the future."

"Don't count on that," Naruto sniped back, carefully clasping the necklace around the back of Ino's neck. He gave the exposed skin a playful pat and stood back to admire his work. "Heh, like I thought; it suits you."

Ino grinned, fingering the necklace thoughtfully, before turning to face Sasuke. The Uchiha looked as though he was… sulking, arms crossed against his chest in his typical guarded fashion. Ino raised an eyebrow at his sullen behaviour but thought nothing of it, and instead asked, "What do you think, Sasuke?"

"… An item like that is useless in battles," came the curt reply, as the dark-haired boy all but looked at Ino.

Naruto was ready to pounce upon hearing the response.

"But I look prettier, ne?" Ino persisted, unperturbed by the Uchiha's reining rudeness. She was much too used to it to be offended. After all, what will Sasuke be if he suddenly turned polite? That prospect was rather unthinkable.

Sasuke merely grunted and said nothing more.

Ino was about to say something else when their ever-late teacher sauntered towards them lazily, the old man that they were supposed to protect lagged behind. For a brief moment, they looked like they were distinctly related, from the similar slouch and the general air of languor that they seemed to share into great detail. It was probably for the best of Konoha that Kakashi had not had the urge to spawn, as Ino really couldn't imagine a perverted, chibi version of the grey-headed jounin running around Konoha, with Icha Icha in hands.

Ugh. Nightmare.

Iruka-sensei would definitely commit seppuku if that were to happen.

The first thing that Kakashi did was to squint happily at his three students, quickly noticing the lingering flush on Naruto's cheeks and Sasuke's simmering state. Ino was quite oblivious, glaring at her irresponsible teacher like a female incarnation of Satan himself. Uh oh. "We got caught up in some technical problems concerning the mission," the jounin offhandedly explained, more to Ino's benefit than the other. Kami knows what the girl was capable of if she was provoked.

"Right, right," the blonde girl in question waved her hand airily and picked up her discarded duffel bag. "Can we get going already?"

Naruto shouldered his own bag and scowled at Kakashi. "You said fifteen minutes, Kakashi-sensei."

"I don't think punctuality is one of his virtues," Sasuke all but snapped, dark eyes glinting dangerously.

Ino chuckled gaily and nodded her head in agreement. She playfully punched Sasuke's shoulder, who flinched at the feather-light contact. "That is if he ever had any virtue in the first place."

Naruto and Ino exploded into a fit of raucous laughter.

The jounin shrugged in his patented indifference, much too used in having his students openly mocking his inability to be on the clock to actually take offence. He was no fucking office worker, and he ain't going to start just because a couple of twelve year-old started bitching about his responsibility as a teacher. He had pride after all, no matter how warped it seemed to be at times. "We're here now." He surveyed his students' meagre amount of luggage and grinned. "I see that you're ready for the journey. Anything else that you might've forgot? Anyone needs the bathroom?"

A chorus of 'No, dammit! Let's just go!" answered Kakashi's question.

Tazuna simply shook his head disapprovingly at the bunch of immature brats.

They better be as good as they ought to.

If not, there's no telling of what that greedy bastard would do to them.

And they were just kids…

"Tazuna-san?"

The old man jerked out of his trance, eyebrows instantly knitted into as frown as he glared at the blonde girl. There was a trace of worry on her pale face, and for a split second, he was reminded of his daughter. Faking a cough to cover his brief stumble, Tazuna snapped, "What?"

"You were not paying attention," her tone was accusatory, lips pressed into a thin line that clearly showed her annoyance. She jerked her chin towards the lanky jounin-guy and the other two brats that were waiting further ahead, and said, "You're going to be left behind, and seeing that we're suppose to protect you, I'd really appreciate it if we can start moving now."

Tazuna grunted in reply and trudged towards the three waiting shinobi, conscious of someone glaring a hole through his head from behind him. He had later concluded that the pale-haired girl was not the one to be messed around with, a wise decision from his part. He wanted to arrive in his own turf in one piece after all, and he had better start cooperating with those brats from now on, no matter how insufferable and loud they can get at times. Tazuna sighed in utter misery, wishing that he had more booze at hand.

It was going to be a long, long day.

xxx

Ino was still fiddling with her new necklace as she took up the rear, a whimsical smile playing on her lips. The chain felt pleasantly cool around her neck and she had quickly gotten used to the extra weight (however light it was) on her chest. Her eyes strayed around the sparse landscape, eventually finding their way to latch at a certain blonde boy, who was having a verbal match with Sasuke. Ino's smile widened, and her fingers tapped the small pendant thoughtfully. It had been a sweet gesture, and she was sincerely touched. Though it had never occurred to her that Naruto was capable of such action, it flattered her nonetheless to know that she had meant something to him that he specifically took the trouble of buying her a gift.

"That's a nice necklace you got there, Ino."

She tilted her head slightly upwards and smiled at Kakashi. He was walking besides her, as they had earlier arranged that two would take up the lead, and another two would take the back. Tazuna would walk in the middle, sufficiently covered from two angles. It was doubtful whether Sasuke and Naruto should be paired together, but it was Kakashi's decision and they had known better than to argue. The jounin's visible eye was fixed on her, his vile orange book poised in one hand. She slipped the pendant back underneath the fold of her purple top, blushing lightly. "Yeah, it's kinda nice."

Tazuna was currently explaining something to the two boys ahead, and Ino caught some words that convinced her that it had something to do with the history of the Wave Country. Sasuke and Naruto had stopped bickering and were listening with rapt attention to what Tazuna was saying. She had learnt all about their trade and other relevant information in Iruka-sensei's class, so she chose to ignore the old man's tirade of words and focused her attention on Kakashi-sensei instead.

"I didn't notice you wearing it when we met earlier," Kakashi prodded on, apparently bored with the lack of interaction between him and his only female students that did not involve general sharp comments from the said female and a languid answer from his own side. Ino briefly considered if he was envious of Sasuke and Naruto's loud arguments.

"I just got it," answered Ino, a tad reluctant to reveal the rest of the details. She wouldn't put it past Kakashi-sensei to tease her about it.

The grey-headed jounin nodded his head knowingly and grinned. "It's from Naruto, then?"

Ino almost tripped over her own foot, though she barely managed to stop herself from diving headlong onto the dirt. Whirling around to glare at his teacher, she narrowed her eyes and flashed him one of her evilest glare. Kakashi-sensei was impressively not affected. "What makes you come to that conclusion?"

Kakashi stroked his chin in the 'I'm-a-jounin-and-I-know-every-goddamn-thing-about-you' sort of attitude. After a considerable amount of time (and much glaring from the girl), he finally deigned upon an answer. "Saw him buying the thing. Neat little shop, and I know the owner."

"Naruto told me that he got it from an antique shop," Ino muttered softly, somewhat scandalized. "Why would you, of all people, be in that sort of shop? I thought you live on porn or something like that."

A huge sweat drop appeared on top of Kakashi's head, and the corner of his masked mouth twitched sporadically. "I don't live **solely** on porn, Ino."

"Well, no use telling me that," the girl pointedly stated. "Almost half of Konoha's population is convinced that you do."

"… I'm certain that that is not good for my reputation," said Kakashi nonchalantly, showing that he indeed did not give a damn about what the villagers think about him.

Ino snorted and crossed her arms against her chest. "Like you care."

"I'm sure I should have."

"But you don't."

"I was not aware that you have the obligation to question my morality, Ino. How much were you paid?"

The conversation ended as Ino had yet to come up with a witty counter, though she was mildly distracted when she noticed that Kakashi-sensei was staring at a puddle of water that they had just walked past. The sudden glint of vigilance in the jounin's grey eye was hard to miss, prompting the blonde girl to glance over her shoulder and stole another look at the puddle. It looked just like an ordinary body of water, and it puzzled her of why the jounin took special interest in it. When she brought her attention back to Kakashi-sensei, he was discreetly staring at her over the top of his porn book. The way his eyes were narrowed in a semblance of cold mirth made her uneasy, and suspicious.

Kakashi-sensei was obviously not telling her something.

Not good.

"Did you notice anything wrong, Ino?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

She squirmed uneasily and shook her head. "Am I expected to?"

"If you don't, then I'll be sorely disappointed," Kakashi replied and turned back to his book. It was followed by another stretch of silence (except a few indignant exclamation from Naruto up front) before he thought out loud, "It's hot today, isn't it?"

Ino blinked at the sudden rhetorical question, her mind furiously trying to work out the code behind Kakashi-sensei's deliberate words. He was hinting at something, and she'd be damned if she couldn't read his 'underneath the underneath' bullshit. He would punish her for this lack of insight, and knowing the jounin's sadistic streak, it would not be pretty. She remembered the pool of water. His remark on the weather. The hidden caution. Something definitely did not click into place. The strap from her duffel bag was digging painfully into her shoulder, the weight suddenly increased hundredfold as realisation dawned into the pit of her stomach.

Oh shit.

Her eyes widened and she turned to her teacher, whose face was hidden behind Icha Icha once again. His grey eye, though, were fixed expectantly on her. Ino swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat, and stared at Kakashi-sensei, unable to string a sentence that would properly portray the mess of thoughts swirling inside her mind. _But surely, this is just our first out-of-the-village mission! We can't… there couldn't have… but Tazuna-san! And this is only a C-Rank! Can't be that bad… can it?_ The growing glimmer of panic in her eyes seemed to tip Kakashi enough, as he casually shook his head in warning (_Do not reveal our knowledge of their existence. Yet._) and slightly jerked his head to the front half of their unlikely procession. Ino understood the gesture perfectly and nodded inconspicuously.

_Go tell those two idiots. And protect Tazuna-san._

Gathering her scattered thoughts, Ino inhaled deeply and placed both hands on her hip. She loudly said, "Really, Kakashi-sensei, stop saying those sort of things! You're a teacher, for Konoha's sake!"

The look of approval from the jounin was enough to tell Ino that it was time to scram.

The blonde girl was three steps away from the three male (engaged in a heated disagreement) when she heard the cackling sound of metal whistling through air, clinks of linked chains (Ino had once went to the blacksmith to accompany her dad on his day-off and she could never forget those horrible, thundering sounds) clashing and spiralling towards a certain individual just a few feet behind her. It was too fast to react properly, too furious for her to comprehend with her frozen logic. _Kakashi-sensei!_ Against her better judgement, Ino whirled around and was rewarded with the sight of a bloody carnage, something that she was much too young to experience. Ino's internal organs literally stopped functioning when the sound of torn flesh and broken bones resounded not three feet away from her, her eyes wide with horror as she witnessed geysers of hot, red liquid spurting forth from slashed chunks of what was supposed to be her teacher.

_Nononononono**NO!**_

Those chains… those, horrible, horrible ugly chains… snaking and cracking and slithering through Kakashi's body, bits and shards and splinters of muscles and sinews and bones bursting forth like an exploding balloon. He wouldn't have felt anything, not pain, not even surprise. Not enough time for his brain to decipher the codes sent from his pain receptors. Spines snapped into small, and smaller parts in a matter of seconds. His spinal cord would've been cut clean. Blood spattered onto the thin carpet of dust and grass. Ino stood as if she had been petrified, turned into stone, transfixed in pure terror as the meaty, bloody chunks hit the ground with small thuds, the copy of Icha Icha that Kakashi-sensei had been reading lying face down on the ground, dyed dark red from undoubtedly the spill of blood.

_Kakashi-sensei._

The chains snapped back as they had completed their purposes, and Ino automatically jerked out of her trance to have enough sense to try and spot the attackers. _Kakashi-sensei_. Her stomach was churning, mingles of her breakfast and whatever it was inside there rising towards her throat, pushing to be freed. _Kakashi-_sensei. Her ears were buzzing, like there were hives of bees working franticly inside them. _Kakashi-sensei_. Her limbs were yet to regain their normal uses, the small tremors running through her frail nerves were the only indication that she had not fallen asleep or unconscious. _Kakashi-sensei_. But her mind was working as sharp as ever, eyes wildly following the dancing snakes of chains to their malicious owners. Two of them.

_Bastards. Fucking, cowardly sons of a bitch!_

Sasuke and Naruto and Tazuna's voices had disappeared amidst the buzz, drowned by the roars of blood pounding against her cranium.

Two pairs of hungry eyes were suddenly locked at her own.

Ino froze as waves of homicidal urges further paralysed her uncooperative limbs.

She could see the curve of their mouths, the vile glint of glee in their hooded eyes.

She could almost hear what they had whispered to each other.

"You're next, little girl."

**TBC**

Review or I will make both Sasuke and Kakashi gay! Muahahaha!

**Kaara**


	12. Jargon

**Title:** Between Sun and Moon.

**By:** Kaara.

**Disclaimer:** … Do I have to go through this mundane routine again? Fine. I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

**Warning:** Serious lack of explicit fighting scenes. I love them. I hate writing them. You can't make me write them. Live with it.

I was… dead, went to Hell… and got resurrected just now? (runs off from mad readers) I'm sorry for not updating this story! I really do! And I think I'll try to keep on writing, in hope to complete this (one day). So, just bear with me for just a couple of months/years/decades, yes?

And it was kinda disturbing to know that at least three out of five of my reviewers encouraged me to write Kakashi/Sasuke gayness galore. That, or merely stating that of course, they're both already gay. It was **that** obvious, huh?

Now, shoo, go read fic!

xxx

**Chapter Eleven: Jargon**

xxx

"You're next, _little girl_."

Ino could feel her hands trembling, unable to tear her eyes away from the two unknown mercenaries that had just reduced her jounin teacher to mere chunks of oozing red meat. Her mind was frantically trying to send signals to her limbs; _move, move, move, or you'll get KILLED!_ It was a futile attempt, as she still stood her ground, though unwillingly. Both darkly-clad men shared sinister grins, gauntleted hands making odd, clinking noise as they advanced swiftly towards the petrified girl in perfect unison, like a pair of shinigami howling for fresh blood. The chains' smooth rustle resounded loudly in her ears; horrible, horrible ugly chains. She never did like chains in the first place.

She was convinced that she would loathe it from that day onwards.

The necklace felt oddly cold against her skin.

Crook No. 1 lashed out his hand, and Ino found herself staring stupidly ahead as chains whizzed towards her, whistling shrilly from their friction against the air. Her legs still refused to respond to the signals from her brain.

_**NO**MoveIdon'twanttodie**MOVE**Iwanttolivedon't**DIE**pleasedon't—_

"Ino-chan!"

"Ino!"

She felt hands roughly shoving her out of Death's way, as rattles of metal missed her by less than an inch. _Not dead. Someone saved her. Close, much too close._ The ground was hard underneath her sweaty palms, sharp blades of grass poking at her exposed, clammy skin. She was sweating profusely, drops of perspiration trailing down from her feverish forehead. Cooling her hot skin. Everything was swimming in her vision, moving globs of colour representing the world. Too much colours, and she still felt nauseous. Ino shakily stood up, supporting her weight with both hands and took short, calming breath, something that Inoshi had taught her after she had killed her first rabbit in their hunting trip.

"_You can never accept death as a part of you, because when you do, it will replace your humanity,"_ she could almost hear her father said, his tone low and grave as he skinned the rabbit. She was only nine, still green to the harsh reality of their life, and the knife felt heavy in her hands._ "So, princess, stare Death in the eyes and show no fear. Don't lose yourself, and you won't lose the battle." _

Why didn't she remember sooner?

She had lost herself for that several seconds, and it almost ran off with her life.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Ino shook her head, forcing her mind back on track. No use berating herself for something that she couldn't change. She couldn't afford to lose herself again. Not now. Not after what nearly happened. Her fingers were clenched into tight fists, and she told herself to relax, forcefully reconnecting the link between her limbs, her nerves and her brain. Time was something that she couldn't afford to waste; seconds ticking away as she congregated her scattered wits. The blonde girl instantly switched her attention to her team mates, and Tazuna-san. She had gathered that they were the one that had saved her frozen ass, as she vaguely recalled two different voices yelling at her. If they were not in a life-and-death situation, Ino was quite sure that both of them would be teasing her right now, gloating of how they rescued her.

She wished that they would, because then, that would meant that they were not in danger.

That Kakashi-sensei couldn't have been dead.

Ino pointedly averted her eyes from the red patch of ground that held the remnant of the jounin and stared at her team mates, trying in vain to ignore the prickle of tears from the back of her eyes.

Naruto and Sasuke were both engaged with the gauntleted killers in a dance of death, each holding on rather admirably, seeing that it was quite clear which side had the most experience. They didn't seem scared, didn't freeze up like she did (oh, the shame!). It was almost as if they were enjoying the rush of adrenaline that only a good fight could bring. Ino followed their movements with burning envy, noting how smoothly Sasuke evaded a vertical slash from one of the dark-clad killers (she couldn't even differentiate them properly; their fashion consultant must've been an undertaker or plain dead, with the black theme and all!) and Naruto's ease in choreographing his attacks with his shadow clones. The blonde boy had slowly abandon his 'swamp-the-enemies-with-my-army-of-clones' infamous technique under Kakashi-sensei's tutelage (Ino flinched at the thought of her teacher), those precious few hours where the jounin would make a sad attempt to teach them something, which usually ended in disaster.

_But Kakashi-sensei did try. He did!_

… _And now he couldn't even see how they fared._

Refusing to yield to her grief, Ino gritted her teeth and steeled her clenching heart, grey-blue eyes clouding for a split second, though no tears actually escaped. Kakashi-sensei would've been proud with her. The blonde girl was slowly regaining her old strength, one of her hands flying up to harshly wipe her eyes. Tazuna-san was standing not too far from her, his eyes switching in between Naruto, Sasuke and her. There was relief on his weathered face when he saw Ino getting back on her feet, the wrinkles on his forehead smoothed for a split second. After what looked like a flash of hesitation, Tazuna finally ran to her side, arriving in several long strides. Ino was partly annoyed and partly thankful when Tazuna slid his strong hands protectively against her back, stabilizing her slightly shaking legs. The images of Kakashi-sensei being slashed into pieces stubbornly plagued her mind, and Ino doubted that she would able to sleep that night. _If_ they survive these two madmen, that is.

"You okay, kid?" the old bridge-builder asked, concern dripping from his lowered voice. "You look pale."

Ino turned to him and nodded slowly, though she was tempted to reply with a scathing "Well, what d'you expect? My feckin' teacher got butchered in front of my eyes!", but thought better of it. Tazuna-san was, after all, trying to help her. Her hands automatically slipped into her weapon pouch, relief and confidence coursing like quicksilver inside her veins when her fingers curled around the cool handles of her kunai. _I'm a proud ninja, and I'd damn well not die here! Not in the hands of those coward bastards!_ Ino discarded her duffel bag in one smooth movement and gripped her kunai tighter, falling into a defensive stance in front of Tazuna.

First thing's first…

"Tazuna-san, please stay behind me," she spoke out, a tad surprise that she actually managed to sound calm. Her head was still buzzing, and she still felt like keeling over and puked her breakfast out. "Our mission is to protect you until you arrive in the Wave Country, and even if our teacher is… not here, we still have the responsibility to complete this mission."

The white-haired man scoffed at her authority-like words. "This coming from a little girl that looked like she's about to faint two minutes ago."

A light flush of humiliation coloured the blonde girl's cheeks, and Ino had to fight the temptation to just shove a kunai up the man's ass. Instead, she inhaled deeply and said, "I apologize for that slip. It's solely my fault." Curt and formal.

"You're lucky those two boys were quick to react."

Ino grimaced like she had been slapped with a live, wriggling salmon.

He didn't need to pour salt into the already existing wounds.

Clashes of steel against steel snapped her attention back to the fights between her team mates and those two mercenaries, where Sasuke had just managed to trap one of them with a clever, if not complicated, trick. The chains from the killer's gauntlet were wrapped around his own body, tying him up conveniently to a tree. Ino bit her lower lip in anticipation as the Uchiha moved in for the kill, before realizing that the other killer had slipped through Naruto's clones and had lashed his chain towards Sasuke's blank point, intending to catch the dark-haired boy unaware. It was too late to warn Sasuke, and too far for Naruto to intercept or stop the attack. Ino did what she thought would be rational at that point; she threw one of her kunai towards the whistling chain, the tip of the kunai snagging a link of the chain by luck (though she would rather kiss Tazuna-san than admit that) and misdirected it from Sasuke.

Which resulted in one half of the homicidal duo suddenly (and unfortunately) remembered that Ino was still pretty much alive and well.

Crap. Blast it.

"Tazuna-san, HIDE!" Ino hastily yelled, drawing out another kunai to replace the one that she had used to save Sasuke as the assassin knocked back Naruto and a couple of his clones, advancing towards her and the bridge-builder. She pushed Tazuna towards a nearby tree, gesturing wildly for the old man to get his wrinkled ass out of harm's way.

Ino braced herself for an attack, her eyes warily following the swift approach of her soon-to-be murderer, with full knowledge that she would be sharing Kakashi's fate if she was not careful. The chain rattled like an ominous giant snake towards her, but she had enough sense not to let the horrendous afterimage of the jounin's untimely death to affect her like before. Instead of fear, molten fury demolished any last fragments of doubt, the old thrill of a good fight replacing uncertainty. Ino had thrived to be a fighter, better than most of the kunoichi of her age, and she would rather die fighting, than running off like a coward with her tail between her legs (figuratively speaking, of course). She wouldn't allow this creep to humiliate her in front of her team mates again.

Her grip on the kunai significantly tightened.

_Naruto and Sasuke had better protect Tazuna-san after this!_

She snorted inwardly at the thought of herself dying a glorious death ("I'll die for you! -cue in a truckload of chains/slashing/general murderous activities- Ack!" Really, she had been watching too much drama lately…), though her mind automatically followed the wide arc of the killer's hands as he brought them forward, nasty-looking claws protruding from the gauntlet. (_"Great. First chains, and now oversized toothpicks. What'll he pull out his ass next? Sporks?" _) Despite that, she knew that he was a professional, a dangerous one at that. Though he clearly lacked the finesse of a jounin-level shinobi (_"How'd Kakashi-sensei got killed anyway?"_), he was way out of her league. The only reason why Sasuke and Naruto had managed to fare against those two maniacs so far was because they were stronger than your average genin.

From the corner of her eyes, the blonde girl saw Naruto rushing towards her, only a few feet behind the mercenary. There was panic and something quite unrecognisable (_Fear? For her?_) etched onto his whiskered face, but she knew that he couldn't catch up in time. And it was certainly not for the lack of trying. A glance to her left showed that Sasuke had either killed or knocked Crook No. 2 unconscious (she hoped with much vehemence that it was the former), and was also sprinting forward with the intention to aid her. Such loyal, wonderful team mates; they could've made a great team. It was surprising how much one can notice in the span of several seconds, and Ino briefly wondered if her life would start flashing through her eyes.

_Heh, that would be fun to watch. Twelve years of achieving **nothing**._

Ino raised her kunai so that it was levelled with her eyes, crouching into a defensive stance.

Reminiscing could wait for later.

Right now, she had a dead jounin to avenge and a miserable granddaddy to defend.

Much to her surprise (and chagrin), the gauntleted assassin manoeuvred around her, instead of facing her off. Ino was confused by the sudden action, as she was quite convinced that he looked as if he had intended to shred her to pieces. The blonde girl first thought that he was trying to attack her from behind, sneaking an attack like the tricky bastard that he was, but changed her mind upon realizing that he had moved well out of attacking range. The bastard was actually heading to the opposite direction, towards…_ oh shit, Tazuna-san!_

Tazuna's eyes were wide as saucers when he realized that he was the true target, and Ino watched with desperation as the assassin drew closer to their client's hiding place. She knew that even if she tried, she would be too late to stop him. Much too late.

What happened afterwards was something that Ino would never, _ever_ forget anywhere in the near future. Or rather, if anyone ever confront her and asked her what she felt at that particular point in her life, Ino would most probably toss her head and punch that unlucky person's face for daring to ask her _that_ question. Really, it was hard enough to try to explain one emotion that you were feeling at one time; trying to explain the myriad of sensations ravaging her body like a troop of starving hyenas would be a plain impossible task.

Ino honestly couldn't explain how she felt when she saw Kakashi-sensei standing before Tazuna-san, one hand stopping the assassin's outstretched claws.

Relief. Disbelief. Anger. Grief. Fury. Delight. Alarmed. Joy.

_Kakashi-sensei!_

Ino could feel her legs giving out underneath her, turning into jelly.

_Kakashi-sensei… is alive!_

Ino would've collapsed onto the ground from the sudden overload of emotions if it wasn't for two pairs of strong hands supporting her, allowing her to lean heavily against them. She could faintly discern Naruto's golden spikes and Sasuke's dark locks from her sides; and the strong trace of blood and sweat from her two team mates. Her eyes were still fixated on the figure wearing Konoha's green jounin vest, hoping, _praying_ that she had not died and went to… well, wherever it was that ninja's went to when they die.

Kakashi-sensei twisted the captured limb in his hand, sending the assassin onto his knees and into a howling frenzy. Fast as lightning, the jounin jabbed several places on the assassin's body with his index finger, before releasing his hold and stared down at his immobile captive. Kakashi patted Tazuna's shoulder before turning to head towards his students. He stood before them, and flashed the three genins a winning smile (not that you can see it from underneath the mask).

"Good job, genins. You've just succeeded in defending the client on your own."

Ino felt like crying and laughing at the same time.

Staring up at Kakashi-sensei, she settled on kicking his shin.

The jounin (unexpectedly) didn't avoid the feeble attack, and instead leaned over to mess up their respective hair (much to their chagrin). He straightened up, visible eye curved into a happy crescent. And turned to Tazuna-san, who was conspicuously kicking the stock-still assassin before him. "Now, I assume that you will be telling us what you've been hiding from us, Tazuna-san?"

xxx

"Are you okay, Ino-chan?"

The blonde kunoichi looked up from her spot on the ground, bandages held firmly in her hand from her earlier task in bandaging a small wound on her knee. She smiled at Naruto, who was hovering over her. "Much better." She scratched the back of her head and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry about freezing up before. And thanks for saving my ass."

Naruto grinned back, clear blue eyes sparkling brilliantly. He placed a hand on Ino's shoulder. "You almost scared me to death. But I'm glad you're okay now."

"You need to be careful next time, Ino," the stern voice belonged to Sasuke; the Uchiha having abandoned his spot near to where Kakashi-sensei and Tazuna-san was currently having a conversation. He was standing rigidly in front of her, dark eyes shadowed and unreadable. "You could've died back there."

"Don't you think I am aware of that already?" Ino retorted irately, though her lips curled into a smile a split second later. "Thanks for saving me, Sasuke."

The dark-haired boy scoffed and crossed his arms. "It'd be troublesome to drag your carcass back home."

Hearing Sasuke muttered the word 'troublesome' sent Ino into a giggling fit, a sudden vision of the Uchiha with a pineapple-like hairstyle invading her mind without her consent. Naruto cocked his head to a side at his team mate's strange behaviour, and Sasuke scowled darkly. That only succeeded in making Ino's giggles explode anew and had a rapid increase in volume. She only stopped when Kakashi-sensei strolled towards them in his usual lazy slouch, trailed by a harassed-looking Tazuna-san. She immediately stood up to join her team mates, dusting the back of her pants and tucking back the roll of bandage into her bag.

"We're dropping the mission," their grey-haired sensei unceremoniously announced to his team, running one hand through his spiky hair.

Naruto was the first to break through the shocked stupor that had descended upon Team Seven from the announcement. He looked at Tazuna-san, who looked away (with something akin to embarrassment on his face) upon eye contact. "But WHY?"

"Tazuna-san has broken the contract when he lied about the class of this mission," Kakashi patiently explained, regarding his students with one-eyed half-glare. "We have no reason to protect him onwards, and should anything happen to him in the future, he is no longer our responsibility."

"And if there are more assassins—"

Kakashi sighed. "He is no longer _our_ responsibility, Ino."

"But we can't abandon him here!" Naruto was positively livid with fury, and his eyes burned with rage. "We agreed to protect Tazuna-san until he arrives _safely_."

"Naruto, I don't think you understand how the missions work," the jounin countered with a surprising amount of patience in his calm voice. "Once a contract is broken, it no longer binds us to the client. We are paid to follow the contract."

Sasuke, who had been silent throughout the exchange, coughed softly and said, "But we can still go on with the mission if we want to, correct?"

The jounin shrugged. "Sure you can. But it won't be good for your own security."

"Then I'm still escorting Tazuna-san back!" Naruto and Ino shouted in unison, their passionate cry ringing through the landscape.

Sasuke snorted.

Kakashi shook his head and wondered for the umpteenth times why he ended up with these brats. "It's up to you. Just don't complain if something bad comes our way."

"No way!" Ino flashed a thumb's up at her sensei, grinning widely. "I thrive on danger!"

Collective sweat drop suspended on everyone's heads.

Tazuna-san came forward, his steps slow and unsure. "I shouldn't have done what I did. But, there was no other way, and I apologize for what had happened to you. I didn't know that Gatou would go as far as sending assassins to wait for me."

"Right, right, _ojii-san_," interjected Naruto, before more display of remorse could commence. He turned to his team mates, sensei and client, and energetically proclaimed, "Yosh, let's go!"

**TBC**

Review, or I shall take another year to update!

**Kaara**


	13. End of The Road

To everyone out there that reads this fanfiction of mine wherever you are,

I'd like to thank you for your reviews and constructive criticism and general support. I appreciate them very, very much, and it pains me to do what I'm about to do right now.

I'm dropping **Between Sun and Moon**. This is my pet project for a very long time, and I just… don't know how to phrase what I'm feeling right now. I love NaruIno, and I will never stop loving this pairing. But I've decided to drop BSaM for numerous reasons, and I'm here to inform you of my decision, so that none will wait for the next update.

Consider this a permanent hiatus. I'm really sorry.

I love each and every one of you out there. Thank you for such a fun ride. The experience had been priceless to me, as I hope it had been for you too.

**Kaara**


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